{"id":291476,"date":"2026-07-09T16:06:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/291476\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T16:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:06:57","slug":"donna-siafakas-matriarch-of-greenpoints-peter-pan-donuts-dies-at-69-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/291476\/","title":{"rendered":"Donna Siafakas, matriarch of Greenpoint\u2019s Peter Pan Donuts, dies at 69 \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Peter\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Donna Siafakas, longtime owner and operator of Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint, passed away at 69 years old.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of D\u2019Arienzo Funeral Home and Anna O. Grant<\/p>\n

The woman behind one of Brooklyn\u2019s most iconic donut counters is being remembered not only for the pastries she served, but for the community she helped build over more than three decades.\n<\/p>\n

Donna Siafakas, owner and operator of Peter Pan Donuts<\/a>\u00a0in Greenpoint, passed away on June 30. She was 69.\n<\/p>\n

For generations of Brooklynites, Peter Pan has been more than just a neighborhood bakery. Under Donna\u2019s leadership alongside her husband, Christos, the shop became a Greenpoint institution, drawing loyal regulars and visitors from around the world with its classic donuts, warm hospitality and commitment to tradition.<\/p>\n

\"\"Peter Pan Donuts has been a giant in the community since the 1950s, and still continues to thrive.Photo courtesy of Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n

The bakery closed its doors on July 8 so staff, family and customers could pay tribute to the woman who helped make the beloved shop a neighborhood landmark.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo honor our beloved Donna,\u201d read a handwritten sign posted on the bakery\u2019s door beneath a drawing of a dove.\n<\/p>\n

Donna and Christos owned and operated Peter Pan for decades, building its reputation around original family recipes and old-fashioned craftsmanship.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPeter Pan at its core is a family institution as Christos and Donna\u2019s sons as well as Donna\u2019s sister take part in baking and serving the donuts and pastries,\u201d their website states. \u201cOver the years, the Peter Pan family has come to include various employees and bakers, some working with the Siafakases for over a decade, to fortify the bakery and make sure it maintains its goals of a perfect donut served with care at an affordable price.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement of her death on Instagram has garnered more than 200 comments from customers around the world sharing their experiences.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Greenpoint<\/a> Council Member Lincoln Restler wrote that Donna \u201cleft an indelible mark in Greenpoint and made our community a much better place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other bakeries and businesses, including Tony\u2019s Pizzeria of Nassau Avenue, Dusty Rose Vintage and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, said that \u201cher legacy will always live on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donna Siafakas, longtime owner and operator of Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint, passed away at 69 years old.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[17948,98,111347,100,99,35525,111348,1882,111349,72392,7665,2422,111350,18868,59548,22697,9,24,12,370,6445,63,20905,7666,111351,2990],"class_list":["post-291476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-bakery","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-food","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-restaurants","tag-christos-siafakes","tag-community","tag-donna-siafakas","tag-donuts","tag-family-business","tag-greenpoint","tag-greenpoint-businesses","tag-local-business","tag-local-history","tag-neighborhood","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-brooklyn","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-food","tag-obituary","tag-peter-pan-donut-pastry-shop","tag-small-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}