Aristeidis Alafouzos

Aristeidis Alafouzos (Greek: Αριστείδης Αλαφούζος; born 1924) is a Greek shipowner, civil engineer and media mogul.

Personal life

He comes from a shipping an political family from Santorini. Alafouzos married Eleni Valaouris in 1955. Hi son, Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and in 1958 his son Themistocles was born.

Career

He 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 sixties, 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. Since 1988 he owns the Greek iconic newspaper Kathimerini.^[1]

As a result of his distinguished career he has 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 has 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]

References