Stavros Niarchos

Stavros Spyros Niarchos (født 3. juli 1909, død 16. april 1996) var en gresk storreder, noen ganger kjent som "Den gylne greker."

Tidlig liv

Han var født i Athen, sønn av Spyros Niarchos. Hans foreldre emigrerte til USA og fikk amerikansk borgerskap.Foreldrene hadde en forretning i Buffalo, New York før de returnerte til Hellas, tre måneder før Stavros ble født. Stavros studerte jus ved universitetet i Athens, og begynte å arbeide i noen slektningers firma som importerte korn. I forbindelse med disse forretninger ble han involvert i shipping og han overbeviste sine slektninger at det kunne være større profit å hente å selv eie skip istedet for å chartre disse.

Shippingvirksomheten

Han var marineoffiser under andre verdenskrig, og på den tiden ble deler av flåten som han hadde bygget opp sammen med sin onkel tapt under tapt som følge av krigshandlinger. Han brukte to millioner dollar av forsikringspenger til å fornye flåten..

Stavros Niarchos grunnla Niarchos Ltd., et internasjonalt shippingkonsern som på en tid opererte mer enn 80 tankskip på verdensbasis. I 1952, bugde han den første supertanker for olje. Hans rival rival, Aristoteles Onassis gjorde det sasmme. Under Suezkrisen som startet 1956 ble det stor etterspørsel etter supertankere. Forretningene blomstret og han ble snart milliardær.

Marriages

Niarchos's five marriages produced two daughters: Maria and Elena and three sons: Philippos, known as Philippe (the father of Stavros Niarchos III), Spyros, and Konstantin.

• His first marriage, in 1930 to Helen Sporides, a daughter of Admiral Constantine Sporides, lasted one year.

• His second marriage was to Melpomene Capparis in 1939, whom he divorced in 1947.

• His third wife was Eugenia Livanos in 1947, a daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos; they divorced in 1965, and she died in 1970, at the age of 44, after an overdose of barbiturates.
  • During this marriage he had an affair with Pamela Churchill (later Pamela Harriman).
• His fourth wife was American automotive heiress and socialite Charlotte Ford (a daughter of Henry Ford II) in Mexico. Ford was at the time pregnant with their daughter, Elena Anne Ford, and the child was born six months later. The marriage ended in divorce the following year (1967), whereupon Niarchos returned to his former wife, Eugenia. No remarriage was necessary, since the couple's 1965 Mexican divorce was not recognized in Greece.[1]

• in 1971, Niarchos married his wife Eugenia's sister, Athina, Marchioness of Blandford, who had been the first wife of Aristotle Onassis. She also died from an overdose, in 1974.

From the late 1970s until his death, he was linked to Princess Firyal of Jordan. He was also said to be linked to Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy.

By his third and fifth wife Eugenia Livanos, whom he never divorced under Greek law, he had issue one daughter and three sons:

1. Maria Isabella Niarchos, a breeder of thoroughbreds. Married to Stephane Gouaze. Mother of two children: Athur Niarchos and Mia Niarchos
2. Philippos, known as Philippe Niarchos, art collector. Married in 1984 to his third wife Victoria Christina Guinness (b. 1960), younger daughter of Patrick Benjamin Guinness (son of Loel Guinness and his first wife, Joan, later Princess Joan Aly Khan and finally Viscountess Camrose). They had four children together: Stavros Niarchos III (b. 1985), Eugenie Niarchos (b. 1986), Theodorakis Niarchos (b. 1991), Electra Niarchos (b. 1995)
3. Spyros (b. 1955) married 1987 (divorced 1999) the Hon. Daphne Guinness (b. 1967), daughter of Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne by his second wife Suzanne Lisney, and had issue three children: Nicolas Stavros Niarchos (b. 1989), Alexis Spyros Niarchos (b. 1991) and Ines Niarchos (b. 1995). Spyros is a good friend of Prince Ernst August of Hanover, and was best man at his wedding to Princess Caroline of Monaco.
4. Konstantin, or Constantine Niarchos (1962-1999); married 1stly 1987 (divorced) Princess Alessandra Borghese, no issue; married 2ndly the Brazilian artist Silvia Martin, no issue. He was the first Greek to scale Mt. Everest. At his death of a massive cocaine overdose in 1999, The Independent (UK) reported he had been left one billion dollars as his share of his late father's estate.

By his fourth wife Charlotte Ford,

1. Elena Ford (b. 1966) married 1stly 1991 (divorced) to Stanley Jozef Olender, married 2ndly 1996 Joseph Daniel Rippolone (divorced), with issue.

Later career

After the oil crisis of 1973, Stavros Niarchos sold off some of his companies and launched into finances and the diamond trade. In the 1980s, he came more and more often to Geneva, from where he managed his business around the globe. The Golden Greek, as his fellow countrymen liked to call him, retired in the nineties to his main residence in Saint-Moritz, in the Swiss canton Graubünden, where he devoted a lot of time to his favorite sport, skiing.

In 1956 Niarchos acquired the important art collection of actor Edward G. Robinson and over the years put together one of the world's most significant collections with more than one hundred Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings. In 1989, he purchased Picasso's self-portrait "Yo Picasso" for $47,850,000, plus he acquired works by Van Gogh, Goya, El Greco, and Rubens.

Thoroughbred horse racing

Stavros Niarchos began investing thoroughbred horse racing in the early 1970s when he put together a highly successful stable of racehorses that competed in France and the United Kingdom. He eventually acquired the Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard horse breeding farm in Neuvy-au-Houlme, France and Oak Tree Farm in Lexington, Kentucky where in 1984 he bred his most successful horse, Miesque. Niarchos was the leading owner in France twice (1983, 1984) and topped the breeders' list three times (1989, 1993, 1994).

After his death in 1996, his daughter Maria Niarchos-Gouazé took charge of the racing operations. She continued to build on his success, and in 2004 her colt Bago won France's most important race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Stavros Niarchos died in 1996, in Zurich. He is buried in the family tomb in Lausanne.

Eksterne lenker

• The Stavros Niarchos Foundation
• Niarchos Group
• Celebrities in Switzerland
• Mentioned in Time's People section (Monday, Sep. 28, 1970)
• The Niarchos family