Steve Pappas, who built a regional sports bar chain out of The Greene Turtle in Ocean City, died Wednesday of cancer, friends and a city official said. He was 72.

Pappas started at the original Greene Turtle on Coastal Highway as a college student at Salisbury University. Pappas and his friend Tommy Dickerson bought the English-style pub in 1981 and turned it into a beloved local spot, Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said.

Five years later, the pair expanded with a location in Baltimore’s Fells Point. Now, The Greene Turtle has grown into a regional franchise, with 23 locations across Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Florida.

Pappas embodied “the best of Ocean City,” Meehan said. He always made sure everyone else was having fun, be it at community events or The Greene Turtle.

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The bar has a “local feel,” Meehan said, and Pappas — or Pappo, as he was also called — liked to talk to everybody.

“You always hoped when you walk in that Pappo was going to be there,” Meehan said. If he was, it was guaranteed you’d have fun, the mayor said.

A Dundalk native, Pappas moved to the Eastern Shore to play lacrosse at Salisbury University and never left. “He just couldn’t get that itch out of him,” said Chad Jones, who worked with Pappas for more than three decades.

Pappas was barely out of college when he and Dickerson bought the bar, said Jones, who started working at The Greene Turtle after high school. He became friends with Pappas over the years.

“If you work for Steve, you kind of become friends with him,” Jones said.

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Pappas told Jones he bet on himself by buying the bar, Jones said, and it was nerve-wracking. But it paid off.

Despite the regional growth of The Greene Turtle, Pappas remained an integral part of Ocean City. He raised his children in the beach town and supported its Recreation and Parks Department. Jones attributed the rise of lacrosse in the region, including a tournament, to Pappas.

His sons have been heavily involved in the management of The Greene Turtle for years, Jones said, but Pappas never truly stopped working.

“I don’t think a guy like Steve could ever really, fully retire from his passion,” he said. “His passion was people.”

He is survived by his wife Dawne Pappas, his sons Stephen and Jason, his daughter Dara and his five grandchildren.