During his six-decade painting career, his style occasionally turned abstract, but he mostly hewed to expressive portraits and especially visionary views of nature that were sometimes reminiscent of Marsden Hartley. These landscapes often resembled the canyons and precipices around Tripi, the small Greek village where he was born in 1908.  In 1929, after becoming disenchanted with law studies, Mr. Hios followed his father and a brother to New York, where he scraped together a living working mostly in restaurants. In 1934 he enrolled in a Works Progress Administration art class in a public school and by 1937 was a working member of the W.P.A. As a member of the Artists' Union, he had his first public showing with that organization in 1936.

In 1964 he and his wife bought a brownstone on a crime-ridden block on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Rallying his neighbors, Mr. Hios helped found the 100 West 95th Street Block Association, serving as its president for eight years. It became a model for similar organizations.

From 1963 until his retirement in 1994 Mr. Hios taught at the New School for Social Research, where he also had five solo shows. His most recent exhibition, a 57-year survey, was held last year at the Susan Teller Gallery in SoHo.