The price of commodities and stocks may go up and down,real estate holdings may fluctuate in value, today’s hot newwebsite may become obsolete in months, and the globaleconomy may throw in its own challenges, but the spirit ofinnovation and entrepreneurialism always endures.

This special issue offers a look at the people fromour community who have found opportunity whereothers found obstacles, who have seen solutionswhere others only spotted questions.

Whether in the fields of technology or investments, in therealm of oil sales or industrial production, we bring to youhere 50 inspiring portraits of Hellenes with vision and lead-ership.

The 2012 list has undergone some big upheavals, as wehave factored in - when including people in the list - not justthe bottom line, but also the extent of Greek community involvement as a part of wealth. This means there are manyfamiliar faces, but a whopping one fifth of people on thelist of our popular issue are new.

The

50 WealthiestGreeks in America

The National Heralda b

MARCH 17, 2012www.thenationalherald.com

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

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ing the issues of paramountinterest to the Greek American

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By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

At 83, John Pappajohn is abundle of energy and insight,making more money than heever did. But with his wife Mary,he is also giving away more ofit than ever. They have givenaway $100 million over the pastten years.

Acumen and integrity. That’sthe formula that has workedand he will not tamper with suc-cess. “They wouldn’t comeback,” if that weren’t the case,he said of the people the famedventure capitalist with whomhas made deals. “They all makemoney. They are all rich.”

Generosity is also an impor-tant element in his personal andprofessional life. “We are veryfair, we share. Our employeesmake money, our secretariestoo. That’s the name of thegame. We share.”

Pappajohn has put togethermore than 50 major public busi-ness deals. “Probably the mostin the country,” said the manwho never interviewed for a job.“I have always been an entre-preneur,” he said, but he is farfrom being done.

Still in venture capital, hesaid: “I’m doing the best dealsever and I have the best portfo-lio I ever had.” Along with suc-cess, he also cultivates his roots,being active in numerous com-munity endeavors.

Pappajohn was born on theisland of Evia. His grandfatherwas a priest and virtually every-one in his mother and fathers’families immigrated to MasonCity, IA. As a major railroadjunction with two cement plantsand other industries, opportu-nities were abound.

His father came over in steer-age at the turn of the last cen-tury at a time when there werealready 4,000 Greeks in MasonCity and opened a grocery store.He went back to Greece to fightthe Turks – “he was a palikari-a brave fellow” Pappajohn said– but after the Asia Minor Dis-aster, he returned to Mason City.

In between he needed to finda wife, so, like many successfulGreek-Americans, he went backin triumph and they brought outthe eligible young women of the

village of Aghios Lukas, like theydid for the Byzantine emperors,and he picked his bride Mariaout of the lineup.

“Thirty days after that theywere married and thirty days af-ter that my mom is pregnantwith me.” She quickly distin-guished herself as the bestGreek cook in Mason City. “Shemade everything and they gaveaway food to everybody. My dadwould typically bring needypeople home for lunch.”

CHARITY IS LEARNED HOME

His father made a lot ofmoney, but like many Greekmen he was a chain smoker andat age 54, he had a fatal heartattack. Pappajohn’s mother hadto learn English, but they keptthe store and he and his broth-

ers took turns going to college.It took him six years, takingsome years off, but he had hisdegree and $2000 in the bankand no debt.

They would be proud thattheir son is a Greek-Americandream overachiever. He has fourhonorary degrees – maybe themost of any Greek-Americanother than Peter G. Peterson.

Like many successful Greek-Americans, Pappajohn will tellyou that his education includedhis time working in his father’sstore. “I was a meat cutter. Myyounger brothers and I did morethan 50,000 chickens by hand.We chased the chickens on thefarm, put them in the coup andtook them back to the grocerystore to be butchered.”

Hellenism is in their genes,in their names and in their suc-

cess stories. Aristotle is in theinsurance business and Socratesis a practicing attorney.

After being graduated fromthe University of Iowa with abusiness degree, his first busi-ness project was to start an in-surance company, but his entre-preneurial experience beganmuch earlier.

“As a kid I was a junker. Iwould leave home with twogunny sacks and I would dorags, copper, lead, brass, andsell it at the junkyard. Theowner said I was his best cus-tomer. I did everything.”

He obviously had an eye foropportunity and value, but hesaid his father taught him thevital lesson of frugality. “We alllearned to save money. That’show we survived and kept thegrocery store until we went to

college and then sold the store.”For that element of entrepre-

neurship that is not inherited,Pappajohn has organized and fi-nanced the John Pappajohn En-trepreneurial Centers at five dif-ferent universities and collegesin the state of Iowa for morethan $10 million, and he justundertook a commitment to do-nate $10 million more. Theyhave started over 2000 busi-nesses in the state of Iowa andgiven away $3.5 million inscholarships.

Always brimming with ideasand ready to seize opportuni-ties, he also learned to pay at-tention to other geniuses. “Iwent into venture capital in1969.” He told TNH he knew asubstantial merchant in DesMoines, IA, whom he ap-proached about the investmentfund he was establishing. Themerchant told him, “I have afriend in Omaha, his name isWarren Buffett. I’ve got a littlemoney with him. If he says it’sokay, I’ll give you a little money,but he thinks we are going intoa depression.”

He called up and excitedlypitched Buffett himself, whosaid, “son you’re making a bigmistake. I have liquidated all myventure funds.” He said Buffettwas right on, and he shifted tomergers and acquisitions untilthe market opened up againlater in the 70s.

When Pappajohn dove intoventure capital, it was a brandnew industry – he said at thetime he was one of only 30 or40 venture capitalists in Amer-ica – and he said that he gotvery lucky early.

Pappajohn did a deal for acompany in San Diego, helpingthem raise money. He ended upstarting seven companies there,taking six of them public –whilehe still lived in Des Moines.

He said he relies on his in-stincts, but acknowledged theydo a lot of research. Pappajohnalso has two brilliant young as-sociates and agrees 100 percentwith the philosophy, expressedby others in this issue like JohnCatsimatidis, that a key to suc-cess is hiring people who aresmarter than you.

John and Mary Pappajohn:Entrepreneurs and Philanthropists in the Heartland

John and Mary Pappajohn share a passion for contemporary art. They also love to donatepieces for everyone else to enjoy too.

Continued on page 14

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICATHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012 3

�As each has received a gift,

employ it in serving one another,

as good managers of the grace of God

in its various forms.�

1 Peter 4:10

Congratulations

to the men and women in this speCial issue for

Cultivating their talents to the benefit of our

Community, the Country and the whole

world. i wish them and future generations

of helleniC leaders suCCess in their endeavors.

emmanuel a. Kampouris

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012

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By Angelike ContisTNH Staff Writer

Short-seller James Chanos’Greek roots are in Delphi, thehome of the ancient oracle. Thatis very fitting, as he often ap-pears, in the financial media,dropping hints of what is tocome, including naming compa-nies and countries that aredoomed to failure. If the founderand head of Kynikos Associatesinvesting business is best knownfor predicting Enron’s collapse,the world is waiting to see if hisChina’s bubble will burst, too.

But while the world of short-selling may appear to be aboutmiraculously seeing into the fu-ture, Chanos’ fortune is built ongood old fashioned research andnumber-crunching. The last fewyears he has also tried to shapethe regulatory environment andmedia landscape in the UnitedStates and abroad to his advan-tage.

That the stakes are high isclear. Though different numberscirculate, Chanos puts the num-ber of funds under managementby his company at “about $6 bil-lion.”

Kynikos Associates, which helaunched in 1985 with a partnerwith $16 million, has come along way.

He told TNH about the ori-gins not only of his company, butalso of his controversial profes-sion as a whole.

TRIAL AND ERRORChanos was born in Milwau-

kee, WI to Greek father Steve(Efstathios) and Irish motherMary, who converted, he pointsout “like a good Greek wife toGreek Orthodoxy.” The familywas in the dry-cleaning business.Chanos went East to study po-litical science and economics atYale (1980).

Of the career that followed,he says, “I stumbled into what Ido for a living now by accident.”What he does now, short-selling,involves borrowing shares athigh prices, selling those, thenreturning the shares after theirvalue has dropped and pocket-ing the difference.

Looking back, the hedge fundguru notes that with no formaltraining available on the art ofshort-selling itself, he edged inthat direction after working infinance. First stop was Chicago,

at Gilford Securities. After thathe worked for several firms onWall Street, including DeutscheBank. “I realized that I didn’t en-joy investment banking, but I en-joyed research more.”

The clincher for him was, in1982 at Gilford Securities, un-covering that something was notquite right with the numbers ofpiano maker Baldwin-United,which went bankrupt in 1983.“I sort of stumbled onto theshort side when one of the veryfirst companies I looked atturned out to be an enormousfinancial fraud, Baldwin-United.I think that’s what set me off. Itwas really almost by accident.”

He attributes his progressmore to “a lot of trial and errorand learning the hard way” thanto any mentor. “Most short sell-ers are sort of lone wolves bydesign,” he adds.

Later, he would sell short onother financial disasters includ-ing Commodore International,Coleco, Integrated Resources,Boston Chicken, Sunbeam, Con-seco, and Tyco International, En-ron in 2000/2001 – and recently,Sotheby’s.

Looking back, Chanos notesthat Kynikos Associates, one ofthe oldest in the hedge fundworld, is “sort of ancient by anystandards,” having been estab-lished over 25 years ago. Whileit may no longer be, as it was in1990, among the ten largesthedge funds in the world, he isproud of the company’s achieve-ments.

LASTING BUSINESSChanos remarks, “I’m proud-

est of the fact that we built alasting business.” He points tothe company’s two offices (inNew York and London), its 30-plus employees and six partners.He adds: “I’ve worked on someof the big spectacular frauds ofthe last 25 years, the Enrons ofthe world, [it's] something thatwe all feel good about.”

He explains that Kynikos As-sociates consists of three poolsof assets, including a U.S. fund,the Ursus fund and KynikosGlobal. The company also has atraditional long/short hedgefund called Kynikos OpportunityFund. All of the funds are runout of New York, with a researchoffice in London.

It’s unfortunate, in his opin-ion, that young people starting

out today don’t have the sameability to enter the risky businessof short-selling. When he and histhen-partner Jim Levitas startedout, they only had $1 million oftheir own – and $15 millionfrom a single client. “It just isnot possible today, both due toadditional regulation and theneeds of institutional investorsto put a shingle out like youcould back then and start with asmall track record.” He explains,“nowadays in order to hire thecompliance people and the riskpeople and everything thatmeaningful investors, whetherits institutional or individual,need to see, you’re talking aboutnecessary assets of $100-$200million at least. Otherwise youare just not going to haveenough to make it work.”

Chanos regrets: “The hurdlehas completely been raised. Andsometimes I think that that’s un-fortunate because it keeps a lotof people who otherwise mighthave been talented from goingout on their own.” He adds thateven in 1990, “we were onlyrunning $600 million, whichwas not a lot of money by to-day’s standards.”

The hedge fund business ex-ploded, Chanos notes, in thepast 10-15 years, changing froma mom and pop financial busi-ness into a global business.

Chanos counts himself luckythat his first client at Kynikos As-sociates was not only patient,but often an educator of sorts,“pointing things out to us, andnot vice versa.”

The business has a high at-trition rate, Kynikos’ founder ex-plains, due to the “nature of thefee structure.” He explains: “Youearn a performance fee only onprofits and if you lose money,you have to earn money back,before you begin earning perfor-mance fees again. One or twobad years can derail a manage-ment company and key peoplewill leave because they feel theywon’t get bonuses.” Chanosnotes that the industry has al-ways been marked by a high fail-ure rate, which may currentlybe as high as five or ten percenta year.

Kynikos may be the world’stop short-selling hedge fund.Chanos estimates that his com-pany is probably one of the top50 hedge funds in the world

overall today. Chanos, who launched and

chairs the Coalition of PrivateInvestment Companies, which isan advocate of his industrymade up of high-powered mem-bers, has lobbied in the U.S. Thecoalition’s attention is shifting toEurope says Chanos, who hastestified for the group in frontof Congress and commented onregulations proposed by the U.S.Securities and Exchange Com-mission and the Financial Ser-vices Authority in the UnitedKingdom. He explains that in theU.S. the regulatory frameworkfor hedge funds has becomeclearer with the Dodd-Frank fi-nancial regulation act. WithinEurope, however, where thereare greater restrictions againstshort-selling, he notes, “it’s a lit-tle bit more uncertain” andpoints to the coalition’s websitefor additional info: www.finan-cialdetectives.org.

THE SOCIAL VALUE OF SHORT SELLERS

Short-sellers get their shareof slack. They are often accusedof heartlessly bringing downcompanies for profit.

Chanos doesn’t see thingsthat way. The hedge fund man-ager, who enjoys teaching a classin the history of financial fraudat the Business School of hisalma mater Yale each spring,gives a little historical perspec-tive. “People have not liked shortsellers since the financial mar-kets that started in the 17th Cen-tury. Short sellers have alwaysbeen reviled because of profitingoff the misery of others neverseems to settle well with peo-ple.”

He points out, however,“There hasn’t been one major fi-nancial fraud in the last 25 yearsI’ve been doing business thatwasn’t uncovered either by aninternal whistleblower, a jour-nalist and/or a shortseller.” Hecalls short sellers “the real timefinancial detectives in the finan-cial marketplace,” whose role of-ten is unappreciated. He notes,“internal auditors, external au-ditors, internal attorneys, exter-nal attorneys never find thesethings.” He agrees with Ameri-can financier Bernard Baruch’s(1870–1965) opinion that amarket without bears (short-sell-ers) is like a government withouta free press.

At the end of the day, Chanosbelieves, “You need a naturalcheck on irrational exuberance,and quite frankly on the abilityof companies to play games withtheir numbers and defraud theirinvestors. ”

GLOBAL SCOPEKynikos scrutinizes closely a

couple of hundred companies,notes Chanos, who says that thecompany’s global portfolio atany time includes “about 100positions.” Chanos often ap-pears on business news pro-grams, sharing his opinions onbad investments. He stressesthat Kynikos’ opinions on com-panies are based on publically-available information, but addsthat it’s part of the biz to knowwhen to speak and when to shutup. “Short-sellers are protectedby the Constitution of theUnited States too, but the ques-tion is: is it in our clients’ inter-ests to talk about our positions?And sometimes it is and some-times it isn’t.” He points to En-ron and China’s property mar-kets, where “we’ll tell anybodywho will listen” about the prob-lems. He also notes: “But on asmaller situation where wedon’t want a lot of company, alot of shortsellers, we might notever talk about it.”

With regards to China, he re-mains steadfast. “We believethat the Chinese banking systemis really problematic due to badloans that not only are going tobuild up due to this cycle, butthat were swept under the rugfrom previous cycles.” He hasoften observed, in recentmonths, that China’s problemswere ignored thanks to the Eu-ropean sovereign situation in2011.

With regards to the situationin Greece, and the E.U. moregenerally, he points to “a verybad political dynamic,” whereboth the taxpayers in the so-called donor countries like Ger-many and the recipient coun-tries like Greece are all upset.His take on what we’ve seenplay out recently are efforts byauthorities to prevent a bankingsystem problem. He points to apublic “tug-of-war between themarket and the EU.” The EU, henotes keeps suggesting “all sortof accounting games,” and “the

James Chanos, In Short-Selling for the Long Run

James Chanos, founder and head of Kynikos Associates, pointsto the fraud-fighting aspect of short selling. He's been a leaderin the profession since 1985.

Continued on page 22

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICATHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012 5

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1.HASEOTESFAMILY$3.3 BILLION DAIRY,CONVENIENCE STORES,PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

Vasilios and AphroditeHaseotes emigrated fromGreece’s Macedonia and Epirusregions to the US, buying a one-cow dairy farm in Cumberland,RI for $84 in 1938. CumberlandFarms (incorporated in 1957)eventually grew to become thelargest dairy farm operation inMassachusetts. In 1956, thecompany opened a jug-milkstore in Bellingham, MA. Fewconvenience food stores offeringdawn-to- midnight service everyday of the week existed in theNorth in the 1950’s.

But by 1967, there weresome 8,000. With some 400stores, Cumberland Farms wasamong the industry leaders. Bythe early 1990’s, CumberlandFarms ranked third among thecountry’s convenience storechains, and was also a leader inboth the retail and wholesaledistribution of petroleum prod-ucts.

A closely held family-ownedcompany since its inception,Cumberland Farms has sincegrown to become a multi-bil-lion-dollar corporation. Lily

(Haseotes) Bentas, daughter ofVasilios and AphroditeHaseotes, is chairman of theboard of directors. Her nephew,Ari Haseotes, is the president.

Company headquarters arein Framingham, MA. Cumber-land Farms owns and operatesconvenience stores and gas sta-tions throughout New England,New York, the Mid-AtlanticStates and Florida under theCumberland Farms, Exxon, andGulf names. Its Gulf Oil armsells gasoline to franchised ser-vice stations. The company firstadded a gas station to one of itsstores in 1971 and expandedgreatly in the wake of the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. By 1975Cumberland Farms opened its1000th store. The followingyear, it opened a 560,000-square-foot bakery and ware-house in Westborough, MA, andpurchased more than 500 Gulfand Chevron service stationsand related assets in 11 North-eastern states. The transactionincluded contracts to supplygasoline to about 1,700 Gulfdealers and 2,000 stations, mak-ing Cumberland Farms thelargest independent seller ofgasoline in America. In 2010,Gulf Oil L.P., a subsidiary ofCumberland Farms, announcedit had acquired all rights, titleand interest to the “Gulf” brandin the U.S. In 2012, CumberlandGulf Group announced that it isentering the electricity businessin Connecticut.

At one point CumberlandFarms had 1,200 stores, abouthalf of which were selling gas.Now a company of over 1,000retail stores and stations, with$8.02 billion in revenues (a 22percent increase over the previ-ous year) and 6,500 employees,Forbes ranked CumberlandFarms the 37th largest privatelyheld company in the U.S. in2011 (up from 44th the previ-ous year).

Bentas told TNH that thecompany continues to grow andimprove. “The company is con-tinuing to upgrade its locationsand offer more prepared foods.We are constantly updating oursites.”

Cumberland Farms has givenmillions in cash and products tobenefit young people, from itsBelieve and Achieve Scholarshipprogram to hunger relief efforts.Ari Haseotes and his wife Ashleyalso founded the One Mission

(www.onemission.org) child-hood cancer foundation.

www.cumberlandfarms.com

2.JOHN A.CATSIMATIDIS$2.2 BILLION OIL, REALESTATE, SUPERMARKETS

Ranked 212th among theForbes 400, John Catsimatidis,63, is chairman & CEO of theRed Apple Group. Ranked 98thamong the country’s largest pri-vately held companies byForbes, with 7,600 employeesand estimated annual revenuesof $3.80 billion, Red Apple hasholdings in oil refining, retailpetroleum products, conve-nience stores, supermarkets andreal estate. With a major focuson energy, Catsimatidis’ fortuneaccelerated with rising oilprices.

His parents came to Americawith him from the island ofNisyros while he was a child. Hegrew up in New York City onManhattan’s west side. He at-tended New York University, butdropped out before completinghis degree requirements becauseof business demands. Heopened his first grocery store in1969, and owned ten stores bythe age of 24, making $25 mil-lion a year in revenue. Heplowed $5 million into Manhat-tan real estate in 1977; thatproperty was worth $100 mil-lion just five years later.

Today, Red Apple reportedlyowns $500 million worth ofproperty and the Gristedes su-permarket chain. He stumbledupon the Chapter 11 proceed-ings of United Refining in War-ren, PA and purchased the oilrefiner’s stock for $7.5 million.Today, the firm owns 375 gasoutlets and convenience stores,primarily in western Pennsylva-nia and Western New York. Hismost recent projects include sev-eral residential developmentprojects in Brooklyn, and invest-ing in health-related companies.

Catsimatidis is a licensed pi-lot, though eye surgery hasgrounded him over the past fewyears. He has helped raise mil-lions for Alzheimer’s, Parkin-son’s, and Juvenile Diabetes re-search. He served asco-chairman and founder of theBrooklyn Tech EndowmentFoundation. The $10 millionfund is the largest gift to a sec-ondary school in the United

States. Since 1988 he hasfunded scholarships at the NYUSchool of Business. He is alsothe publisher of the HellenicTimes. He is married and the fa-ther of two children. His wifeMargo runs his company’s in-house advertising agency. TheirHellenic Times ScholarshipFund, which has awarded hun-dreds of thousands in scholar-ships to Greek American stu-dents, celebrated its 20thAnniversary last May. Catsima-tidis, who in 2009 publicallyconsidered running for mayorof New York, is among the lead-ing Greek-Americans actively in-volved in Republican fundrais-ing for the 2012 presidentialrace. He told Crain’s New Yorkin November 2011: “I don't nec-essarily want to be mayor…ButI love New York City and I don'twant it to go downhill. If wecan't get someone who is reallyqualified to do a good job forour city, then I may do some-thing about it.”

www.urc.com

2.GEORGE P.MITCHELL$2.2 BILLION ENERGY, REALESTATE

Ranked 188th among Forbes’“400 Richest Americans” and420th among Forbes’ “World'sBillionaires”, with an estimatednet worth of $2.2 billion, Mr.Mitchell is chairman of GPMInc., and is now 92 years of age.

The son of a Greek immi-grant goatherd, he grew up inGalveston, Texas – in the samebuilding where his father’s drycleaning shop was located. A

1940 graduate of Texas A&MUniversity with a degree in pe-troleum engineering, he servedin the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-neers during World War II be-fore founding Roxoil Drilling,which eventually becameMitchell Energy & DevelopmentCorp, with his brother Johnnyin 1946.

He made his fortune by wild-catting (i.e., searching for, andfinding, reserves) in North Texasand Southern Louisiana oil andgas fields, and then selling mostof his company’s interests to De-von Energy for $3.5 billion in2001. He invested the proceedsof the sale in real estate: e.g.,Bald Head Island, North Car-olina. He also owns more than20 hotels and private buildings.His son, Todd is a major share-holder in Alta Resources, a com-pany developing shale assets.

Mitchell resides in TheWoodlands, an environmentallyfriendly region he founded in1974. His wife, Cynthia, passedaway in 2009. They have tenchildren and 28 grandchildren.

The Mitchells have been oneof A&M’s largest private bene-factors. Their gifts in support of

the University’s Physics depart-ment include $35 million fortwo new facilities, whichopened in 2009. Mitchell hadreportedly contributed $159 toeducational institutions by2011. Major interests have in-cluded historic preservation, in-cluding helping to rejuvenateGalveston’s historic Strand Dis-trict and helped revitalize thecity’s mid-winter Mardi Gras cel-

ebration.Mitchell still goes to his office

almost every day, and still trav-els regularly for business pur-poses. He is a major benefactorof the Houston-Galveston area’shospitals. He is also a nature en-thusiast, and a believer in envi-ronmental and energy conser-vation. He is opposed to oildrilling in the Alaska wildliferefuge, and has funded a $10million National Academiesstudy on sustainable develop-ment and population growth.

In November 2011, he was –along with Terry Englender andGary Lash, named one of For-eign Policy magazine’s Top 100Global Thinkers “For upendingthe politics of energy” with hisinvestment, three decades ear-lier, in tapping undergroundnatural gas reserves.

4.MICHAELJAHARIS$1.9 BILLIONPHARMACEUTICALS

Ranked 227th among theForbes Richest 400 Americans,with an estimated net worth of$1.9 billion Michael Jaharis, 83,founded Kos Pharmaceuticals.

Jaharis, the son of Greek im-migrants, is a native of Chicago;he earned his bachelor’s degreefrom Carroll University in Wis-consin. He served in the U.S.Army Medical Corps during theKorean War and later attendednight school at DePaul Univer-sity to earn his law degree whileworking as a sales representa-tive for Miles Laboratories. In1972, Jaharis and partnerPhillip Frost acquired Key Phar-maceuticals and transformedthe tiny producer of cough andcold remedies into a power-house company with newly de-veloped top-selling asthma andcardio- vascular drugs. Underhis leadership, Key’s sales in-creased 100- fold before thecompany’s $836 million mergerwith Schering- Plough in 1986.Two years later, Jaharislaunched Kos Pharmaceuticals,which pioneered the HDL cho-lesterol market with its goodcholesterol-raising drug Nias-pan, before being sold to AbbottLaboratories in 2006 for $4.2billion. Today, Jaharis is founderand director of Arisaph Pharma-ceuticals Inc., a privately helddrug discovery and bio-techcompany, and a founder of Vat-era Healthcare Partners LLC, a

The 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America List

Note: All names markedwith an asterisk (*) indicatenewcomers to the TNH 50Wealthiest list.

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50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICATHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012 7

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He is married to Mary Ja-haris who attended Northwest-ern University and graduatedfrom the Art Institute ofChicago. Proud supporters ofHellenism, he and his wife aremajor benefactors of the NewYork Metropolitan Museum ofArt, Art Institute of Chicago andalso support many cultural, re-ligious, higher education, andhealthcare institutions thoughthe Jaharis Family Foundation,Inc. In October 2010, the MaryJaharis Center for Byzantine Artand Culture was inaugurated atHellenic College – Holy CrossGreek Orthodox TheologicalSeminary which will serve as apremier international researchcenter.

Jaharis also serves as TrusteeEmeritus of Tufts University inBoston, MA, Chairman of theBoard of Overseers for theSchool of Medicine, Tufts Uni-versity, Member of the ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center Boardof Visitors, and Member of theBoard of Overseers of the WeillCornell Medical College andGraduate School of Medical Sci-ences.

He is the Vice Chairman ofthe Greek Orthodox Archdioceseof America and is one of theOriginal Founders of Leadership100 and FAITH: An Endowmentfor Hellenism and Orthodoxy.

He states, “It is particularlyimportant to Mary and me togive back to institutions whichhave truly inspired us and mayhelp open doors for young peo-ple and the community. We be-lieve that our Hellenic cultureand Orthodox faith provided thefoundation for our values andidentity.”

The Jaharises reside in New

York. They have two childrenand five grandchildren.

5.GEORGE L.ARGYROS$1.8 BILLION REAL ESTATE

Ranked 719th amongstForbes’ world billionaires, withan estimated net worth of $1.8billion earlier this month,George Argyros, 74, made hisfortune in grocery stores andthen real estate.

He earned his bachelor’s de-gree at Chapman University. Asecond-generation American ofGreek descent, he was born inDetroit, MI and raised inPasadena, CA. He went into realestate in 1962, selling land atbusy intersections to oil compa-nies to set up gas stations. To-day, his privately held Arnel &Affiliates owns and manages5,500 apartments and 2 millionsquare feet of commercial space.Argyros founded the private eq-uity firm Westar Capital in

1987. He is a board memberand the leading investor, with areported 20%, in software de-velopment firm DST Systems(NYSE:DST) whose market cap-italization is about $2.15 billion.

Former President George W.Bush appointed him U.S. am-bassador to Spain in 2001, afterleading GOP fundraising effortsin California in 2000. He hosteda $25,000-per-couple dinner forU.S. Senator and then-presiden-tial hopeful John McCain (R-Ari-zona) at his home in 2008. Ar-gyros also served on the FederalHome Loan Mortgage Corpora-tion under President GeorgeH.W. Bush.

Argyros resides in a mansion(reportedly recently expanded)on Harbor Island in NewportBay, CA. He is a recognized busi-

ness leader and philanthropist.He was the 1993 recipient ofthe Horatio Alger Award of Dis-tinguished Americans, and a2001 recipient of the Ellis IslandMedal of Honor. Chapman’sSchool of Business and Econom-ics was renamed in his honor in1999. He has served on theboard of trustees for severalcommunity organizations, in-cluding the California Instituteof Technology; the BeckmanFoundation; the Horatio AlgerAssociation; and Chapman Uni-versity. He owned baseball’sSeattle Mariners between 1980and 1989. In January, he be-came a member of the Board ofRegents of the Orange CountyCouncil Boy Scouts of America.In April 2011, he and his wifemade a $5 million gift to an am-bulatory surgery center at theUniversity of California. He isan Archon of the Patriarchate’sOrder of St. Andrew the Apostle.Argyros is married with threechildren, and enjoys sailing, ski-ing and hunting.

www.arnel.com

6.C. DEANMETROPOULOS$1.2 BILLIONMANAGEMENT,ACQUISITIONS

Dean Metropoulos, 65, isvery well known in the privateequity, investment banking andfinancial community, havingspent the past two decades ac-quiring, restructuring and grow-ing numerous businesses in theU.S., Mexico and Europe. Manyof these were subsequentlytaken public or sold to strategiccorporations. He was chairman& CEO of Pinnacle Foods, theparent company of iconicbrands such as Duncan Hines,Vlasic and Mrs. Paul’s. Pinnaclewas purchased by the Black-stone Group for more than$2.26 billion in 2007. He is#359 on Forbes’ 400 RichestAmericans list.

Metropoulos is Chairman &CEO of C. Dean Metropoulos &Co., a boutique buyout andmanagement firm. The firm fo-cuses on the acquisition and op-eration of companies with con-sumer brand products, and hasbeen involved in more than 70acquisitions involving over $12billion in invested capital since1993. He says: “I love findingopportunities, negotiating thedeals, and repositioning thecompanies into vibrant, growingbusinesses.... If we’re proud ofanything, it’s that we have neverlost money with any of our ac-quisitions in which we have av-

eraged 44% returns over atwenty year period.” In early2000, Metropoulos acquired In-ternational Home Foods, a sub-sidiary of Wyeth, which in-cluded Chef Boyardee, PAMcooking spray, Bumble Bee tuna,Jiffy Pop popcorn and Gulden’smustard. Forty percent of thebusiness first went public, andsubsequently 100% was sold toConAgra in 2000 for $2.9 bil-lion.

Born in Greece, his familymoved to America when he wasnine years of age. In Watertown,MA, his father Jimmy worked atthe Star Market and later owneda restaurant in Newton calledCabot.

Metropoulos went to collegeon a scholarship, and after grad-uate school at Babson Collegeand a year and a half towardshis doctorate at Columbia, hewent to work for the GTE Cor-poration, which is now Verizon.After graduate schoolMetropoulos joined GTE Inter-national and became itsyoungest senior vice presidentresponsible for their interna-tional business in 62 countries.

Other well known businessesin which C. Dean Metropoulos& Company were investors andoperators included Mumm andPerrier Jouet Champagnes ofFrance, Stella Foods, the Morn-ingstar Group, GhirardelliChocolate Company, Del MonteMexico and National Water-works. He owns Castle on theHudson boutique hotel.

In 2010, he made waves withthe purchase of Pabst BrewingCo. for $250 million. Metropou-los attributes some of the mostsuccessful ideas of turningaround and reinventing themany well-known brands to theout-of-the- box thinking and ex-

ecution of his two sons, Evanand Daren. Metropoulos and hiswife Marianne live in Green-wich, CT. Among his honors in2011 were the Association forCorporate Growth Chicago’sDealMaker and Hellenic Ameri-can Bankers Association Execu-tive of the Year awards.

www.pabstblueribbon.com

7.ALEX G. SPANOS& FAMILY$1.1 BILLION REAL ESTATE,PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Alex G. Spanos, 88, owns theNational Football League’s SanDiego Chargers. His family isranked 1075th among theworld’s billionaires by Forbes.His fortune increased since2004, and then dropped somewith the recent plunge in thereal estate market. The risingvalue of the Chargers – nowworth $920 million (purchasedfor $70 million in 1984) - hasoffset the real estate losses. In2008, Forbes listed A.G. SpanosCompanies as the 403rd largestprivately held firm in the coun-try, with estimated revenues of$1.13 billion.

The son of Greek immi-grants, Spanos received hisbachelor’s degree at PacificLutheran University. He beganhis career as a baker, but whenhis business nearly went bank-rupt, he opted for a change indirection. In 1951 he used an$800 loan to purchase a smalltrucking company, which heturned into a successful enter-prise. He then used his profitsto invest in real estate, and by1960, he had an incorporatedbusiness. Today, his firm is oneof America’s largest housing de-velopers, and is the largest fam-ily-owned construction andproperty management companyin the United States. It has builtmore than 100,000 units in 19states.

Spanos was inducted into theCalifornia Building Industry Hallof Fame in 2005. He bought 60percent of the Chargers fromthen-majority owner EugeneKlein in 1984. Over the next tenyears, he bought out the sharesof several small co-owners,bringing his control of the teamto 97 percent. His son Dean nowmanages the team. Spanos, oneof the largest single private con-tributors to the Republican Na-tional Party during Presidentialelection years, helped to raiseover $2 million for Senator JohnMcCain’s 2008 Presidential bid.President Bush appointedSpanos to the Kennedy Centerboard in 2004. Spanos has alsocontributed millions to schools,hospitals and charity. He re-ceived the Medal of the Com-mander of the Order of Honorfrom Greek President KarolosPapoulias in 2008.

Spanos now lets his kids runthe business these days, andsaid he likes to play cards withhis friends. “What the heck. I’m85 years old, and my kids aredoing a good job. It’s their turnnow,” he told TNH in 2009. In2002, Spanos published his au-tobiography entitled Sharing theWealth: My Story. He and hiswife Faye (who celebrated 63years of marriage in 2011) havefour children, 15 grandchildrenand three great grandsons.

http://agspanos.com

8.THE CALAMOSFAMILY$1 BILLION MUTUAL FUNDS

John P. Calamos, Sr., 70,earned both his bachelor’s de-gree in economics and his MBAfrom the Illinois Institute ofTechnology. A son of Greek im-migrants, he is a product ofChicago public schools, andgrew up above his family’s gro-cery store on Chicago’s westside. He developed his passionfor the stock market as ateenager after investing his par-ents’ $5,000 nest egg.

After earning his MBA, he be-came an early authority on con-vertible securities, and launchedan investment outfit that even-tually became Calamos AssetManagement in 1977. Hismoney management firm servesinstitutional clients and man-ages mutual funds. The com-pany provides money manage-ment services to majorcorporations, institutions, pen-sion funds, insurance companiesand individuals. The companywent public in 2004.

Continued from page 6

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012

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Calamos is chairman, CEOand Co-CIO of Calamos Invest-ments, which he runs along withhis nephew Nick and his sonJohn. A much-lauded money-man over the last few years,Calamos was worth $2.7 billionfive years ago, according toForbes. Though the 2008 finan-cial crisis struck his industry ablow, he is recovering nicelywith $33.7 billion under man-agement at the end of 2011.Calamos also has a private realestate arm, Calamos Real EstateLLC, which includes HotelArista, CityGate Centre and

other entities that surround theinvestment company’s head-quarters in Naperville, IL. Hehas written two books, writesfor investment industry publica-tions and is interviewed regu-larly by CNBC and BloombergTV.

Calamos was the first mem-ber in his family to graduatefrom college. He served in theU.S. Air Force, flying the B-52Bomber, as a combat pilot inVietnam and as a Forward AirController. He later spent tenyears in the USAF Reserves fly-ing the A-37 jet fighter andearning the rank of Major. Hekeeps his aviation skills honedby flying his Marchetti SF260Warbird. He credits his Air Forcetime for sharpening his risk as-sessment skills.

He is a member of the Invest-ment Analysts Society ofChicago and is on the board ofdirectors of Chicago’s new Na-

tional Hellenic Museum, ofwhich he is a major benefactor.He says of the museum: “Wehave built a national institutionto honor our parents and grand-parents, to honor our rich Hel-lenic history.”

www.calamos.com

8.KOSTA & TOMKARTSOTIS$1 BILLION WATCHESLEATHER ACCESSORIES

Kosta Kartsotis, 59, is CEO &Chairman of Fossil Inc., andTom Kartsotis, 52, former chair-man and CEO of the company.Fossil is based in Richardson,Texas. It sells products in 120countries around the world. In2010 stock prices more thandoubled for the company, witha 40% increase in global sales.Kosta Kartsotis holds a 9.4 %share in the company. Forbestallied his earnings at $21 mil-lion in just a week last year, not-ing that he held some $655 mil-lion of the stock – and hisbrother, “a mere $389 millionworth of Fossil stock.”

Founded by Tom Kartsotis in1984, Fossil is a designer andmanufacturer of clothing andaccessories, primarily watchesand jewelry, but also sunglassesand wallets. Its brands includeFossil, Relic, Abacus, MicheleWatch and Zodiac. Fossilwatches are common in middle-income retail stores, as well asat most department stores. Fos-sil also branched into the saleof leather goods and other ac-cessories in the 1990’s. Fossilalso designs, manufactures anddistributes with Burberry, DKNY,Emporio Armani, ColumbiaSportswear, Diesel, MichaelKors, Marc Jacobs and Adidas.Fossil also produces collectibles,some of which are based onpopular films or pop culturecharacters. It made news in2011 by acquiring competitorSkagen Designs.

The company now offerssmart watches that would linkto phones via Bluetooth.

Tom Kartsotis also owns theTexas company Bedrock Brands.

www.fossil.com

8.PETER G.PETERSON$1 BILLION ALTERNATIVEINVESTMENTS

In 2010 he was ranked182nd among the Forbes 400and 488th at the World's Billion-

aires. Peter G. Peterson, 85, hasmoved down in this list as hisdonations have gone up. He’slisted in Forbes earlier thismonth as 1,153rd of the world’sbillionaires. He made his for-tune as the co-founder and for-mer chairman of the BlackstoneGroup, one of the world’s largestprivate investment firms with19 offices around the world.

Peterson co-founded Black-stone with Stephen Schwarz-man in 1985 with $400,000; thefirm’s private equity funds ownor have interests in 54 compa-nies. The company went publicin June 2007 at $31 a share. Af-ter a drop in share values witha crisis in the private equity in-dustry, they have stabilized atabout $15 as we went to press.Peterson retired from the com-pany in late 2008, receiving$1.85 billion in cash upon exit-ing, before taxes and meetingseveral trust and charitableobligations. At year’s end, Black-stone was managing $166 bil-lion in total assets. The com-pany’s recent acquisitionsinclude the Anheuser-Busch In-Bev’s U.S. theme parks ($2.7 bil-lion in 2009) and Hilton Hotels($26 billion in 2007).

The son of Greek immi-grants, Mr. Peterson grew up inNebraska. He studied at North-western University, where hegraduated summa cum laude,and earned his MBA from theUniversity of Chicago. He wasCEO of Bell and Howell from1963 to 1971. He served as Sec-retary of Commerce under Pres-ident Nixon, and became chair-man of Lehman Brothers in

1973. He also chaired the Fed-eral Reserve Bank of New Yorkfrom 2000 to 2004. He is theauthor of several books (includ-ing 2010 memoir The Educationof an American Dreamer), andspeaks frequently about issuesof fiscal responsibility. Petersonnow dedicates his time to hisfoundation and other charitableactivities. Established in 2008,the Peter G. Peterson Founda-tion is a nonpartisan organiza-tion dedicated to increasingpublic awareness of the natureand urgency of key fiscal chal-lenges threatening America’s fu-ture, and to accelerating actionon them.

He’s among the U.S. billion-aires who decided to take theGiving Pledge in 2010 to givemuch of their wealth to charity.The Giving Pledge was initiatedby Warren Buffett and Bill GatesJr.

Peterson now resides in NewYork. He is married to JoanGanz Cooney, founder and for-mer chairman of Children’s Tele-vision Workshop (“SesameStreet”), and is the father offive.

www.pgpf.org

11.GEORGEANDREAS$975 MILLION ART, REALESTATE, INVESTMENTS

A painter and investor in realestate among other businesses,George Andreas (Andreopoulos)was born in Athens in 1938. Be-fore studying at the Greek Mili-tary Academy, he was an ap-prentice to Greek portrait andlandscape artist Constantine

Artemis. His four-year appren-ticeship began in 1952, at age14, grinding pigments and mix-ing paints, learning about tech-nique and studying composi-tion. While studying withArtemis, Andreas also discov-ered and was inspired by thepaintings of ConstantineParthenes, a progressive artistwho spurned tradition. In 1967,a tyrannical regime led by Col.George Papadopoulos seizedpower in Greece, and Andreas,by now a distinguished militaryofficer, moved to New York.

Since then, he has dividedhis time between his studios inVirginia, Florida, and New YorkCity. Over 40 years, he has madeover 140 oil works and 1,000works on paper, yet Andreas hasestablished several policies forhimself regarding his art and hisdealings with the art world: Hehas intentionally not sold anoriginal piece since 1993. HisMonographia, a collection of 18lithographs, is available for pur-chase. Andreas is working onseveral significant new projects,to include one called Smash theSystem, consisting of at leasttwelve paintings and video. Thisbody of work will be a reflectionof a social criticism of the Anar-chist movement over time.

Art is not the only compo-nent of his fortune. Among sev-eral other business ventures, hehas substantial real estate as-sets. He has also owned and op-erated many successful car deal-erships, employing hundreds,one of which was ranked thesecond most profitable dealer-ship in the country. Andreas’wife Ursula assists him in all ofhis endeavors. He has one son,Christopher, a daughter-in-law,Andrita, and two grandchildren.

www.andreasstudio.com

12.GEORGE D.BEHRAKIS$930 MILLIONPHARMACEUTICALS

George D. Behrakis, 77, isfounder and chairman ofMythos, LLC, a private invest-ment company based in Lexing-ton, MA. He is also chairman ofGainesborough Investments,launched in 1998. A 1957 grad-uate of Northeastern University,Behrakis also studied at BostonUniversity, and is a recognizedleader in the pharmaceutical in-dustry. He became best known,perhaps, for his talent in solubi-

lizing previously insolublechemicals and making them sta-ble for medical use.

After completing his militaryservice, Behrakis began his ca-reer at McNeil Laboratories (adivision of Johnson & Johnson).In 1968, he founded DoonerLaboratories which developedand manufactured a leadingasthma medication, Slophyllinand Slobid. He sold the com-pany to Rhone-Poulenc Rorer(now Aventis) and purchasedophthalmic firm Muro Pharma-ceuticals in 1978. Behrakis soldhis eye care products to Bauschand Lomb and searched for newproducts, including pharmaceu-ticals for asthma and allergies.

Behrakis sold the firm to Asta-Medica AG, a division of Ger-man conglomerate Degussa, re-tiring as president & CEO in1998.

Behrakis is the son of Greekimmigrants. He and his wifeMargo have established chairsand scholarships at various uni-versities and medical centers. In2003 Northeastern Universityand Medical Center opened theBehrakis Health Science Build-ing and also created the Centerfor Drug Discovery.

A recipient of many awardsfor his contributions to business,science, the arts and the GreekOrthodox Church, he sits on theboard of The Boston SymphonyOrchestra and is emeritus chair-man of Northeastern University.He has served on many boardsof both public and private com-panies. He is on the advisoryboard of the Harvard School of

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Public Health.Perhaps no institution has re-

ceived as much from Behrakisas the Boston Museum of FineArts. His relationship with themuseum dates back to his highschool days, when his uncle,John Zaroulis, took him to seethe galleries. Later, Behrakiswould host parties at the Mu-seum. He became a member in1989, a patron in 1996, and anoverseer in 1998. Then, one dayin 2001, Behrakis showed up forlunch with MFA Director Mal-colm Rogers and handed him asealed envelope. Inside was acheck for $2 million to endowChristine Kondoleon’s positionas curator of Greek & RomanArt. He has given $25 million tothe museum since 2006 and themuseum now has the newGeorge D. and Margo BehrakisWing, which houses Greek, Ro-man and Egyptian Galleries.

In 2010, Mr. Behrakis gave a$1.8 million grant to a HarvardUniversity School of PublicHealth study on smoking inGreece. In 2011, the 50-year-member of AHEPA was honoredwith the organization’s Arch-bishop Iakovos HumanitarianAward in Orange, CT.

Behrakis, a former presidentof the Holy Trinity Greek Ortho-dox Church in Lowell, M.A., isa member of the ArchdiocesanCouncil’s Executive Committee,and an Archon of the Ecumeni-cal Patriarchate. He is ChairmanEmeritus of Leadership 100.Behrakis also publishes the Hel-lenic Voice. He and his wifeMargo have been married for 50years and have four childrenand nine grandchildren.

www.thehellenicvoice.com

13.GEORGESAKELLARIS$800 MILLION ENERGY,ENVIRONMENT

Born in Vassara in Laconia,Greece, George Sakellaris, 65,heads one of the largest energysolutions companies in NorthAmerica. His companyAmeresco, Inc. (NYSE: AMRC),which is based in Framingham,MA, specializes in providing en-ergy efficiency, infrastructureupgrades, and renewable en-ergy solutions. George Sakel-laris, President and CEO as wellas Chairman of the Board of Di-rectors of Ameresco, foundedthe company in 2000. Today ithas 62 offices in 34 states andfive Canadian provinces andemploys more than 900 profes-sionals. “Green. Clean. Sustain-able” is the motto of the com-pany that increases energy

efficiency for federal, state andlocal governments, healthcareand educational institutions,housing authorities, and com-mercial and industrial cus-tomers.

One of its notable projects in-clude the recently completedDepartment of Energy SavannahRiver Site Biomass CogenerationProject in Aiken, SC, which at$795 million is the largest re-newable energy savings perfor-mance contract in the UnitedStates. Ameresco also recentlyannounced an agreement withthe Philadelphia Water Depart-ment to design, build and main-tain an innovative wastewaterbiogas-to-energy facility.

Ameresco prides itself in go-ing beyond just conservation toaddress its customers’ entire en-ergy system, including supplyand demand, energy efficiencyand renewable energy.

Sakellaris has this to sayabout his sustainability busi-ness: “We have a sharp focus onour customers’ needs for com-prehensive energy efficiency ser-vices and budget-neutral solu-tions, particularly in today’senvironment of aging infrastruc-ture and budgetary constraints.As an entrepreneurial, technol-ogy-agnostic company,Ameresco is in the best positionto offer our customers the opti-mum solutions to suit their re-quirements.” He continues, “Be-ing in the service business 'youare as good as your people.' Wealways strive to hire and retainthe best in our field.”

The company’s revenues con-tinued to climb in 2011. In No-vember, they announced thattheir total revenues for 2011,$728.2 million, were up 17.8%over the previous year’s, with anet income improvement of

21% year-over-year. After graduating from high

school in Greece, Sakellaris ar-rived in Bangor, ME, as a collegeexchange student in 1965 to goto college. He spoke little Eng-lish when he first enrolled at theUniversity of Maine-Orono, butworked his way through collegeand earned a B.S.E.E. degree,driven by a love of mathematicsand the sciences. His parents ar-rived in the U.S. in 1969 andthe family settled in Boston. Hethen worked at local utility NewEngland Electrical Systems(NEES), earning an M.B.A. andM.S.E.E. from Northeastern Uni-versity along the way. Then,Sakellaris explains, “in 1979,while working for New EnglandElectric, NEES Managementwanted to establish a companyto promote energy efficiency toavoid the need to build newgeneration plants. They askedme to lead that initiative and Iwelcomed the challenge.”

The subsidiary he launchedwas called NEES Energy. Thenin 1990, Mr. Sakellaris pur-chased NEES Energy and it be-came the energy conservationcompany he re-namedNORESCO. In 1997, he soldthat industry-leading indepen-dent energy services companyto Equitable Resources (EQT),a Fortune 500 company. Sakel-laris continued to leadNORESCO and was appointedas a Senior Vice President of Eq-uitable Resources. In January2000, he left EQT and threemonths later founded Ameresco.

Sakellaris is a DistinguishedMember Inductee of the FrancesCrowe Society at the Universityof Maine, which gave him theEdward T. Bryand DistinguishedEngineer Award in 2007. Hisawards include winning anErnst & Young Entrepreneur ofThe Year 2011 New Englandaward.

Among his support for nu-merous educational institutionsin Massachusetts and Maine isestablishing an endowment atUMass Lowell in memory of hismentor, the late Senator PaulTsongas. He is a member of theFaith Endowment and Leader-ship 100, an Archon of the Or-der of St. Andrew and a majorbenefactor of his local church,Saint Catherine’s Greek Ortho-dox Church.

Sakellaris served as a found-ing member of the National As-sociation of Energy ServiceCompanies (NAESCO). He is aformer President of NAESCOand still an active member. In2005, he was invited to join the

Clinton Climate Initiative,launched by former PresidentBill Clinton. He is also a regis-tered Professional Engineer inMassachusetts. A committedoutdoorsman, he has run in fiveBoston Marathons; Sakellarisalso competes in sailing, withhis Mini-Max boat Shockwavefrequently placing in sailing re-gattas. He lives in Milton, MA,with his wife, Cathy, and chil-dren, Christina and Peter.

www.ameresco.com

14.EFSTATHIOS(STEVE)VALIOTIS$750 MILLION REAL ESTATE

Efstathios Valiotis, 65, ispresident and founder of the As-toria-based Alma Realty Corpo-ration, one of the largest realestate firms in the New Yorkmetropolitan area. He was bornin Vordonia, Greece near Sparta,and immigrated to the UnitedStates in 1972. He worked inthe food industry and, withintwo years, purchased a news-stand and a food mart followed

by a pizzeria. His next venturewas establishing a custom-madefurniture business, Knossos Inc.,in Astoria in 1976. Within twoyears, the business expanded toinclude two retail display storeson Manhattan’s Park Avenueand Sixth Avenue and a furni-ture-manufacturing factory inQueens. Mr. Valiotis owned andactively managed Knossos until1994.

In 1978 he began his highlysuccessful career investing inreal estate. Since then, Valiotis’expertise in acquisition and de-velopment has included the pur-chase, sale, construction andmanagement of both residentialand commercial properties. In

1983, Valiotis founded his ownfirm, known as Alma Realty Cor-poration. Alma serves as the ves-sel through which Mr. Valiotisdevelops, builds, manages andacquires real estate. He has builta diverse portfolio over the lastthree decades including multi-family residential buildings,commercial buildings, ground-up construction of residentialand commercial buildings anda retail shopping center. AlmaRealty also owns and managesover 10,000 apartments of mar-ket and affordable housingproperties in New York and NewJersey as well as over 5 millionsquare feet of commercial prop-erty. He is committed to invest-ing and improving communitiesby pro- viding safe and well-maintained

residential and commercialdevelopments. Valiotis estab-lished his construction company,Vordonia Construction Corpora-tion, in 1988, which serves asthe general contractor for themajority of his projects. Vordo-nia Contracting and SuppliesCorp. is another subsidiary ofALMA.

In 1989, Valiotis, along withseveral other investors, formedMarathon National Bank. Heserved as chairman of the bank’sboard of directors and as amember for ten years. Marathonwas acquired by Piraeus Na-tional Bank of Greece in 1999.In 2007, he formed Alma Bank,in which he is a majority share-holder. He serves as Chairmanof the Advisory Board. Thebank, created with the highestcapital investment in a NY Statecommercial bank, is rapidly ex-panding, with ten branches andseveral more branches to come.The bank started with $50 mil-lion in capital and in four yearshas grown to $750 million ingross assets.

Valiotis earned his degree inTheology from the University ofAthens. He is a major supporterof the St. Demetrios Cathedraland School in Astoria. Valiotisis a big benefactor too of theHoly Cross Greek OrthodoxChurch, School and CommunityCenter in Whitestone; thechurch’s Efstathios and Sta-matiki Valiotis Greek AmericanSchool was named after himselfand his wife. Mr. Valiotis neverforgot his roots and hometownand he financed and built aT.E.I. (technical college) in hishometown of Sparta, which alsobears his name and currentlyenrolls 2,000 students. A firmbeliever in education, he sup-ports various educational insti-

tutions. He is married to Sta-matiki Kousoulas and they havethree children, Sophia, Katerina,and George.

w w w. a l m a r e a l t y. c o m ,www.almabank.com

15.JOHNPAYIAVLAS$650 MILLION FOODINDUSTRY

John Payiavlas is chairmanof AVI Foodsystems, the coun-try’s largest independent, fam-ily-owned and-operated con-tract food service company,providing vending, institutionaldining and coffee service oper-ations.

Payiavlas, the son of immi-grants, traces his companies be-ginning to purchasing a fewvending machines for the fam-ily’s Village Café in his home-town of Warren, OH. Foundedin 1960, AVI currently employsthousands, serves millions ofconsumers daily, and servessome of the most prestigious in-stitutions in America, includingindustry, corporate headquarterscomplexes, universities, schoolsystems and healthcare facilitiesthroughout the Midwestern andEastern United States. Theirclients include Carnegie MellonUniversity, Eastman Kodak,Good Year, Honda of AmericaManufacturing, Kmart, KraftFoods, Ohio State University,Phillips, Toyota Motor Manufac-turing, University of PittsburghMedical Center, UPS, the U.S.Postal Service, Toyota MotorManufacturing, Verizon, and Xe-rox. Intensely private, Payiavlasruns the company along withhis son Anthony and his daugh-ter Patrice (Patsy). Based in

Continued on page 10

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012

Warren, AVI has more than 50branch offices in the Midwest-ern and Eastern United States,and makes $2 billion in salesannually.

Payiavlas and his wifeMarissa were honored in 2006with the Cleveland Clinic’s Dis-tinguished Fellow Award. Payi-avlas traces his origins to the is-land of Chios. He is a Life-TimeChairman of the ArchbishopIakovos Leadership 100 Endow-ment Fund and an Archon of theEcumenical Patriarchate.

www.avifoodsystems.com

16.JAMES S.CHANOS$600 MILLION INVESTMENT

James S. Chanos, 54, is thefounder and president ofKynikos Associates, the world’sbiggest short-selling hedge fund.A second-generation Greek-American, Chanos, grew up inMilwaukee, WI. His fatherowned a chain of dry cleanersin Milwaukee and his motherworked as an office manager ata steel company. He foundedKynikos Associates (in Greek,kynikos means cynic) in 1985after a Wall Street career as afinancial analyst with PaineWebber, Gilford Securities andDeutsche Bank. Jim Levitas, hisformer boss, partnered withChanos to launch Kynikos Asso-ciates with $16 million. A yearlater, Levitas, unable to endurethe stress of short selling, leftthe company. The company’s as-sets under management are cur-

rently $6 billion. Kynikos has of-fices in New York and London.

Chanos has a long history ofmaking shrewd predictions hav-ing identified several financialmeltdowns such as BostonChicken, Conesco and Tyco In-ternational. In 2000 he startedinvestigating Enron Corpora-tion. In 2001, predicting thecompany’s financial problems,he became Enron’s short seller.By the time the Enron scandalwas public, Kynikos Associatesprofited greatly. Financial mag-azine Barron’s mentioned hisearly prediction of Enron’s fallas “the market call of thedecade, if not the past fiftyyears.” Later on, he successfullypredicted Sotheby’s stock drop–it plummeted between Novem-ber 2007 from $57 to $10. InMarch 2006, Chanos created theCoalition of Private InvestmentCompanies, an organizationaiming at promoting hedgefunds in Washington. Recently,the lobbying group has shiftedits attention to Europe.

He appears regularly in theAmerican media giving financialadvices and predictions. He haslong been considered a “mediaoperator” with a strong relation-ship with journalists that respectand promote his ideas. He con-tinues to regularly declare thatChina’s economy will crash.Chanos is a graduate of YaleUniversity, where he studiedeconomics. He has four chil-dren.

16.GEORGE M.LOGOTHETIS*$700 MILLIONSHIPPING/AVIATION/REALESTATE

George M. Logothetis, 37, isthe founding Chairman andCEO of Libra Group, consistingof 30 subsidiaries with compa-nies operating out of 20 officesworldwide.

He founded the privately-owned group with his brotherConstantine M. Logothetis in2003. Today George Logothetisis based in New York, while hisbrother, the Executive ViceChairman of the Group, is basedin London.

The diversified group wasbuilt upon the decades of workof their father, shipownerMichalis G. Logothetis, who ison the Libra Group’s board andis a senior advisor. A series ofstrategic steps by the youngergeneration allowed them to ex-tend into new areas at a timewhen many shipping companiesare strained.

George M. Logothetislaunched his career at the familybusiness in London in 1993,when he joined Lomar Shipping,the group’s UK-based shippingowning and management

group. In 1995, at the age of20, he became its CEO. Underhis leadership, Lomar expandedthe numbers of ships theyowned many times over. ThenLomar sold 67 of them between2004 and 2006, investing theprofits in many non-shippingsectors. Finally, in 2009, Lomaracquired Allocean Group for$325 million, a buy considereda bargain. Lomar has recentlystarted ordering new fuel-effi-cient Ultramax ships made.

The group followed a similarpatter with its aircraft leasingbusiness, Dublin, Ireland-basedLease Corporation International(LCI). The company waslaunched in 2004, only to sellits entire 21 aircraft fleet in2007 for $1 billion. The com-pany would invest in a new fleetof some 35 aircraft leased tocompanies including SingaporeAirlines, British Airways and AirFrance. In early 2012, LCIsigned a $400 million orderwith AgustaWestland heli-copters.

Libra Group’s real estateportfolio spans much of theplanet, with properties and of-fices in the North and SouthAmerica, Asia and Europe. LibraGroup owns and runs a total ofsome 18 hotels. The group’sGrace Hotels brand, which be-gan on Greek isles, is now foundworld-wide –including the newVanderbilt Grace Hotel, in a his-toric mansion in Newport,Rhode Island and one in Beijingalike, plus a hotel spa plannedfor Kennebunkport, ME.

In Greece, Libra Group’s Eu-roEnergy has invested in solarenergy parks and wind farms,while in the U.S. they have in-vested in the biofuels market.Their Greenwood Energy isbased in Green Bay, WI.

The list of group subsidiariesincludes travel writer/TV hostLeon Logothetis’ Principal Me-dia, which has provided TV pro-gramming since 2005. Other ofthe subsidiaries run from EagleEye Protection, providing Euro-pean forest fire detection soft-ware, to Chios Heritage mastictree farm investments. LibraCapital is the in-house invest-ment management companyand Libra Group Services, thein-house legal and administra-tive and corporate support com-pany service to companieswithin the group based in theU.K.

Logothetis and his wifeNitzia (formerly Nitzia Embiri-cos) are based in New York Cityand have a son. In 2011, thegroup created an InternationalInternship Program in collabo-ration with The American Col-lege of Greece in Athens and theUS-based Greek America Foun-dation, giving 20 young peoplethe opportunity to work at thegroup’s key locations around theworld.

www.libra.com

16.JOHNPAPPAJOHN$600 MILLION VENTURECAPITALISM

John Pappajohn, 83, is pres-ident of Equity Dynamics andPappajohn Capital Resources, ofwhich he is also sole proprietor.Equity Dynamics is a financialconsulting entity; PappajohnCapital Resources is a venturecapital firm.

Pappajohn first came fromEvia, Greece to the UnitedStates when he was just ninemonths old. His father diedwhen he was 16 years of age,and he had to work to pay hisway through college. He gradu-

ated from the University ofIowa’s College of Business Ad-ministration in 1952. Through-out his career as a venture cap-italist, he has been an earlyinvestor in over 100 investmentfirms dedicated to advancingthe biomedical and biotechnol-ogy industries.

He and his wife Mary, whohave one daughter, have part-nered in philanthropic endeav-ors, which have provided mil-lions for scholarships, businessopportunities and communityenhancements. His charitabledonations include the John &Mary Pappajohn Clinical CancerCenter, and Pappajohn Entrepre-neurial Centers at five Iowa uni-versities and colleges. To date,over 99,625 college studentshave taken part in the latter,which have sparked 3,680 newbusinesses. In 2009, the Pappa-john Scholarship Foundationdistributed $247,750 in grantsto support ethnic, disadvan-taged and/or minority students;over the previous 10 years, thefigure is at over $3.14 million.In September 2009, the DesMoines Pappajohn SculpturePark opened, featuring $40 mil-lion of the avid collector cou-ple’s artwork. In December 2010the Pappajohns pledged $26.4million towards a new Univer-sity of Iowa biomedical researchbuilding. The couple gifted over$70 million in 2009.

Pappajohn is the recipient ofmany prestigious awards, to in-clude the Horatio Alger Award(1995), the Ellis Island Medalof Honor (2000) and theWoodrow Wilson InternationalCenter Award for Corporate Cit-izenship (2007). He is the firstIowan and the second GreekAmerican (Pete Peterson wasthe first) to receive theWoodrow Wilson Award. Pap-pajohn is the recipient of severalhonorary doctorates.

www.pappajohn.com

19.TED J.LEONSIS$590 MILLION COMPUTERS,MARKETING,PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

Ted J. Leonsis, 55, is vicechairman emeritus of AmericaOnline. Leonsis is also thefounder, chairman and majorityowner of Monumental Sportsand Entertainment, formed inJune 2010, as he merged hisLincoln Holdings LLC (includingthe National Hockey League’sWashington Capitals, worth anestimated $225 million – up by$28 million over last year - andWNBA’s Washington Mystics)and Washington Sports & Enter-

tainment Limited Partnership.To create the new company,Leonsis purchased the remain-ing 56% of Washington Sports& Entertainment that he didn’town, giving him full ownershipover the National Basketball As-sociation’s Washington Wizards,the Verizon Center and the Bal-timore-Washington Ticketmas-ter franchise. MonumentalSports and Entertainment alsooperates Kettler Capitals Iceplexand George Mason UniversityPatriot Center.

After surviving an airplanecrash landing in 1983, hedrafted a list of 101 things todo in life, and has completed 82of the tasks; his $1 billion networth aim may be realized in afew years. (See the list atwww.tedstake.com.)

Few people have roots asdeep in the computer industry,or as much knowledge and ex-perience of its history and po-tential. A pioneer of the Internetand new media, Leonsis partic-ipated in launches of the AppleMacIntosh, the IBM PC and theWang office automation. He hasled four businesses that havegrown at record rates: He builtWang WP (the first word proces-sor) from a $200 million to a$1 billion company with thelargest female managementteam in the country. He wasfounder & CEO of Redgate Com-munications Corporation, con-sidered the first new media mar-keting company. He built AOLinto the first $1 billion interac-tive services company and theworld’s biggest media company,helping to increase its member-ship from fewer than 800,000to more than 8 million in a four-year span (1994-97). He has

also boosted the Capitals’ atten-dance and revenues.

Leonsis was born to a familyof modest means in Brooklyn,and spent his early years there.His family moved back to hismother’s hometown of Lowell,MA. He graduated from LowellHigh School in 1973 and at-tended Georgetown University.After graduating in 1977, hemoved back to his parents’home in Lowell and beganworking for Wang Laboratories.In 1980, Leonsis started his owncompany, which grew quickly,and sold it to InternationalThompson for $60 million in1981. He then started Redgate,which he sold to AOL in 1993,commencing his relationshipwith once-pervasive AOL, com-pleting his tenure as the audi-ence group’s president and vicechairman before stepping downin 2006.

In 2009, Leonsis joined theboard of language-learning soft-ware company Rosetta Stone.Once the mayor of Orchid, FL,Leonsis sits on the boards ofGeorgetown University, theNBA, the NHL and several char-ities. Among his favorite chari-ties are the See Forever Foun-dation and YouthAIDS. He alsosponsors his own philanthropicfoundation, the Leonsis Founda-tion, which is dedicated to cre-ating “opportunities for childrenthat enable them to reach theirhighest potential”.

Leonsis has produced docu-mentary films includingNanking (2007). He refers to hisfilmmaking endeavors as “fil-manthropy,” which uses themedium of documentary filmsas a matrix for social change.Among the 19 investmentslisted on his site is SnagFilms, avideo distribution platform thatwas recently backed to the tuneof $10 million by Comcast andventure capital firm New Enter-prise Associates (NEA). NEA’smanaging director, Peter Barris,a fellow Greek American also onthis list, was also a foundingventure capital investor in an-other Leonsis investment,Groupon. Together with SteveCase and Donn Davis, Leonsislaunched a $450 million “speed-up capital” company called Rev-olution Growth Fund II in De-cember. Its investments includepumping millions into Fedbid,which allows individuals to sellitems to the government. He’salso the author of numerousbooks. He lives in the historicMarwood Estates in Potomac,MD with his wife Lynn and twochildren.

w w w . t e d s t a k e . c o m ,www.snagfilms.com

20.P. ROYVAGELOS, M.D. $550 MILLIONPHARMACEUTICALS,HEALTHCARE

Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, 82, servedas CEO of Merck & Co., thepharmaceutical giant, from1985 to 1994. He joined theworldwide health products firmin 1975 as senior vice presidentof research, and became presi-dent of its research division in1976; starting in 1982, heserved as senior vice presidentof strategic planning. He con-tinued to hold both positionsuntil 1984, when he was electedexecutive vice president.

Before assuming broader re-sponsibilities of business lead-ership, Vagelos had won scien-tific recognition as an authorityon lipids and enzymes, and as aresearch manager. This followeda decision early in his career toput his principal energies intoresearch, rather than the prac-tice of medicine. Vagelos, whoseparents were born in Asia Minorand immigrated to the US in the1920s, earned his bachelor’s de-gree with honors in 1950 fromthe University of Pennsylvania.He was awarded a MD from Co-lumbia University in 1954. Afteran internship and residency atMassachusetts General Hospitalin Boston (1954-56), he joinedthe National Institutes of Healthin Bethesda, MD. At NIH (1956-66), he served in the NationalHeart Institute, holding posi-tions in cellular physiology andbiochemistry – first as SeniorSurgeon, and then as head ofsection of Comparative Bio-chemistry. In 1966, Vagelosjoined the Washington Univer-

sity in St. Louis School of Medi-cine as chairman of its Biologi-cal Chemistry Department.

The author of several booksand more than 100 scientific pa-pers, he was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts &Sciences and the National Acad-emy of Sciences in 1972, and tothe American Philosophical So-ciety in 1993. After retiring fromMerck, Vagelos was chairman ofthe University of Pennsylvania’sBoard of Trustees from 1994 to1999, having served as a trusteesince 1988. He was also presi-dent & CEO of the AmericanSchool of Classical Studies inAthens from 1999 to 2001, andserved on the National ResearchCouncil Committee on Science& Technology for CounteringTerrorism in 2002. Much of hiswealth came from stock optionsat Merck, which was very prof-itable under his leadership. Dur-ing his tenure there, Merck de-veloped thecholesterol-lowering statins,mevacor and zocor.

Vagelos is sometimes calledthe father of pharmacophilan-thropy for freely providing thedrug mectizan to cure millionsof Africans of river blindness.His charity work at the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania includessponsoring five scholar-ship/study programs as well asthe $15 million Roy and DianaVagelos Laboratories. He alsosupports an incentive programfor students at his old highschool in Rahway, New Jersey.The Diana Student Center, re-named after Mrs. Vagelos, at heralma mater, Barnard College,opened in 2010. Vagelos is cur-rently chairman of biotech com-pany Regeneron Pharmaceuti-cals, whose stocks have morethan doubled over the previousyear, from $35 to over $75. Heis also chairman of ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center’sBoard of Visitors, and is chairingthe center’s capital campaign,which has already met its targetof $1 billion by 2011. In 2010the couple gave $50 million forthe Columbia Medical SchoolCenter for a new medical andgraduate education building.Vagelos is married to the formerDiana Touliatos. They live inNew Jersey, and have four chil-dren and seven grandchildren.

www.regeneron.com

21.ANGELO K.TSAKOPOULOS$540 MILLION REAL ESTATE

Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, 75,was born to a farming family inthe village of Rizes, in Arcadia,Greece. His father, a butcher,struggled to feed five children.

He first came to the UnitedStates in August 1951, sailingpast the Statue of Liberty on his15th birthday. As a college stu-dent at Sacramento State Uni-versity, he waited tables at nightin the Tony Del Prado restaurantand sold real estate on week-ends. He would eventually leaveSac State a few credits shy ofgraduation to work full time. At21 years of age, he had alreadystockpiled experiences likely un-fathomable to many of his fel-low undergraduates: war, depri-vation, emigration and stints asboth a shoeshine boy in Chicagoand a farmhand in Lodi. And hehad begun laying the ground-work for his future, arguably be-coming the most significantforce to shape Sacramento sinceJohn Sutter. He boxed in col-lege. His former boxing team-mates say the elements of hislarger-than-life persona werepresent even in the days whenhe was studying business, phi-losophy, and history under theAmericanized surname ofChicos, a name he later droppedto reclaim his family name.

Tsakopoulos has sinceclimbed to prominence throughuncommon business acumenand sheer tenacity. He turns onthe charm with politicians, playshardball with environmentalregulators, and promotes bigideas for the region. In recentyears, he’s offered to donatefarmland he controls in PlacerCounty for a private university,and to help fund its constructionby developing adjacent acreage.He has proposed that the regionopen thousands of acres ofranchland he controls along theSacramento-El Dorado Countyline for development, usingsome of those proceeds to funda new arena for the NBA’sSacramento Kings. He alsogrows wine grapes in BordenRanch and walnuts at an or-chard outside Wheatland.

In late 2010, the family pur-chased Conaway Ranch, a17,244 property of farming andranching land as well as wet-lands and water resources westof Sacramento. The SacramentoBee reported the family alreadyheld 18,000 acres of farmlandand vineyards and 40,000 acresof cattle grazing land in North-ern California.

Tsakopoulos’ older brotherGeorge, who passed away in2009, followed him to Sacra-mento, and also went into realestate. George’s family controlsthousands of acres in the region.

Angelo is founder of AKT Devel-opment Corporation, nowheaded by his son, Kyriakos,which controls about 40,000acres of land in the region andneighboring San JoaquinCounty.

He has also carved out aniche for himself as a majorplayer in and fundraiser for theDemocratic Party, and as a stan-dard bearer for Greek politicaland cultural interests in Amer-ica. The developer and his chil-dren have raised and con-tributed millions on national,state and local campaigns andissues over the past decade. De-mocratic Presidential candidatesaside, a few of the major recipi-ents include former CaliforniaGovernor Gray Davis, U.S. Sen-ator Dianne Feinstein and HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi.Tsakopoulos is also dedicated toadvancing the careers of GreekAmerican politicians, includingformer California state treasurerand once-gubernatorial candi-date Phil Angelides. His daugh-ter, Eleni TsakopoulosKounalakis, is currently U.S.Ambassador to Hungary.Tsakopoulos and his family haveestablished Hellenic Studieschairs at several major Ameri-can universities across the coun-try, Georgetown, Stanford andColumbia among them.

22.PETER G.ANGELOS$500 MILLION LAW, MAJORLEAGUE BASEBALL

Peter G. Angelos, 82, is anAmerican trial lawyer and thecurrent chairman & CEO of Ma-jor League Baseball’s BaltimoreOrioles. He became owner ofthe Orioles in August 1993,leading a group of investors, in-cluding prominent Marylanderslike novelist Tom Clancy, in pur-chasing the team for $173 mil-lion, a record price at the time.

According to Forbes, the Ori-oles were worth $411 million in2010 (up from $376 million theprevious year). The Orioles en-joyed some success early underAngelos’ ownership, making thepostseason as a wild card teamin 1996 and winning the Amer-ican League East Division titlein 1997. But manager DaveyJohnson resigned after the 1997season, and 14 straight losingseasons ensued. In 2005, theMid-Atlantic Sports Network,co-owned by the Orioles and theWashington Nationals, took off.It has 6 million subscribers.

Angelos was born in Pitts-burgh on July 4, 1929. He cameto Baltimore at 11 years of age.He is a graduate of Eastern Col-lege and the University of Balti-more School of Law, where hewas class valedictorian, andwent onto a lucrative career intrial law, specializing in casesinvolving harmful products, pro-fessional malpractice, and per-sonal injury.

His firm, the Law Offices ofPeter G. Angelos, has attorneysand locations in Maryland,Delaware, and Pennsylvania.Angelos began working as acriminal defense lawyer follow-ing graduation. For most of hislegal career, he was a successfulattorney representing Baltimorelabor unions and their membersthrough his own private prac-tice, which he founded in 1961.Beginning in the 1980s, he re-fashioned his firm’s focus fromcriminal law to civil class actionsuits. His law firm and wealthexpanded exponentially in

The 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America ListContinued from page 9

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50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICATHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012 11

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He just filed a $50 millionIPO for Cancer Genetics, one ofthe leading cancer diagnosticscompanies in the world. His in-terest in biomedical firms andbiotechnology began with hisfirst big deal and was one of thefirst investors in multibilliondollar Caremark, the first homehealth care company in Amer-

ica.Many of Pappajohn’s deals

require him to make decision onthe value of patents, but he saidhis network enables him to ac-cess very good research. “Forfree,” he said, “but we recipro-cate.” He lets helpful people intohis deals. He said he alwaysused his own money and that ifhe needed more he wouldn’tborrow, rather he’d bring in

other investors. That gives him freedom to

make decisions on the spot. “Itake out my ‘checkie’ book” likea Greek would say,“ and I writea check. That how I can getdeals and do them fast.”

“We are always involved inprojects,” he says, speaking ofhis wife, but art is their jointpassion. They have been listedamong the top 200 art collectors

in the world 14 years in a row.“I started out with little money,but we liked art.” Mary Papa-john has an interior decoratingdegree from the University ofMinnesota.

“Neither one of us had art inour homes, nothing on thewalls, but for some reason thefirst month we were married wewent into an art gallery andbought a $50 painting and westill own it – a painting of theResurrection.”

Mary’s family is from Thebes.He told TNH, “Our fathers hadthe same story: He went backto his chorio [village] and mar-ried the prettiest girl in town.”

But the pattern worked, hesaid. His mother had a good lifeand when she was widowed,she didn’t want to get marriedagain and she lived to 98. Hisin-laws also lived into their 90s,also raising a wonderful family.

He and Mary continued tobuy art, and then they got in-volved with museums. He is onthe Trustee Council of the Na-tional Gallery of Art and atrustee of Hirshhorn Museumand Sculpture Garden in Wash-ington DC. He is on the nationalcommittee of the Whitney Mu-seum in New York and is a re-tired director of the Des MoinesArt Center. Mary is a trustee ofthe Walker Museum in Min-neapolis and the head of theircontemporary art gallery at theDes Moines Art Center.

“Once you get involved in thearts you get a pretty good han-dle on it,” the man renownedfor his analytical