As a youth, he lived in the city's Highlandtown neighborhood and attended Patterson Park High School in Baltimore.

He subsequently was an executive with a Texas drug store chain before moving to Linthicum, Maryland, where he opened his own pharmacy.

Sophocleus began serving in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1993, when he was appointed by Governor William Donald Schaefer to replace Tyras S. Athey (who had resigned).

Sophocleus was elected in his own right in 1998 and was serving in his fourth full term in the House of Delegates at the time of his death, representing Maryland's District 32 in Anne Arundel County.

"[1] Sophocleus was inducted by his alma mater into the Patterson Park High School "Alumni Hall of Fame".