Oil and shipping magnate Vardis Vardinogiannis dies

Greek billionaire oil and shipping businessman, Vardis Vardinogiannis, has died, aged 91, his family announced on Tuesday.

“It is with deep sadness that the family of Vardis I. Vardinogiannis announces that the beloved father and grandfather, Vardis I. Vardinogiannis, passed away today, Tuesday, November 12, 2024,” the announcement reads.

Vardinogiannis was the chairman and controlling shareholder of Motor Oil Hellas, Vegas Oil and Gas.

Born in Episkopi, an area in the Rethymno prefecture of Crete, on 4 December 1933, he entered the Hellenic Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1955 as an officer of the Greek Navy.

Since 1972, he managed one of the largest Greek business groups having created an international range of activities in the oil, shipbuilding, banking, hotel and media sectors.

The most important of these are Motor Oil, Optima bank, Vegas Oil and Gas (Egypt), Avin Oil, Piraeus Bank, ANEK Lines, Ellaktor, Star Channel, Alpha TV, NJV Athens Plaza, AVE Group of Companies, Odeon, etc. The flagship of the group is considered to be the unit of Motor Oil Hellas refineries.

In November 1990, Vardinogiannis was the target of a terrorist attack by the urban terror group 17 November. Three rockets hit the heavily armored car he was riding in, but he was not injured.

He and his wife, Marianna, were among the founders of Robert Kennedy’s Council of Leaders, along with President Bill Clinton and other world leaders.

He is survived by five children, Yiannis, Christianna, Yiorgos, Nikos, and Vardianna. His wife, Marianna, a prominent philanthropist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador passed away in July 2023.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Vardinogiannis “leaves a great example of a successful Greek, who believed in team effort.”

“It’s with sadness that I bid farewell to Vardis Vardinogiannis. The patriarch of a family that sealed with his actions the economic and social reality of the country, in these past decades,” he said in a press release. 

“Our family relations, as well as Vardis’s interest in public life, allowed me to get to know him up close. He was, after all, a fighter against the dictatorship and a firm follower of moderation, regardless of his dominant role in the Greek and international economy,” he added.

Source: ekathimerini.com