Aristeidis Alafouzos

Aristeidis Alafouzos (Greek: Αριστείδης Αλαφούζος; 9 March 1924 – 17 May 2017) was a Greek shipowner, civil engineer and media mogul.

Personal life

Alafouzos was born into a shipping and political family from Santorini. Alafouzos married Eleni Valaouris in 1955. Their son, Giannis, was born in 1957, and Themistocles was born the following year.

Career

Alafouzos was first successful as a civil engineer. In 1952, soon after graduating from university, he obtained from the Greek Ministry of Public Works the first of a series of building contracts. His most famous constructions were the Mont Parnes Casino on Mount Parnitha overlooking the north western suburbs of Athens and the large luxury hotel Asteras Vouliagmenis on the southern coast of Athens. These two works were expressly desired by Constantine Karamanlis, when he was prime minister in the 1960s. The skyscraper overlooking the port of Piraeus is another one of his works. Also in the 1960s, the Public Power Corporation S.A. entrusted him with the construction of the coal plant of Ptolemaida which supplies electricity throughout mainland Greece.

He entered shipping in 1964. During his shipping career he ordered more than 100 vessels in British, German, Japanese, Chinese and Korean shipyards. His shipping companies, Glafki Maritime and Kyklades Maritime Corporation have always kept the Greek flag. From 1988 until his death in 2017 he owned the iconic Greek newspaper Kathimerini.^[1]

As a result of his distinguished career he received many awards and distinctions. In December 2015 he was awarded the Lloyd’s List/Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards."^[2] He was also been honored with the "Order of the Rising Sun" by the Emperor of Japan and with the honorary title of "Friendship Ambassador" by the Chinese government.^[3]

Alafouzos died on 17 May 2017 at the age of 93.^[4]

References