Eugenios Eugenidis was a prominent Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 shipping

Greek shipping

The Hellenic Merchant Marine refers to the Merchant Marine of Greece, engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience...

 magnate

Business magnate

A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...

 of the 20th century.

Early life

Eugenios Eugenidis was born in Didymoteicho

Didymoteicho

Didymóteicho is a town located in the eastern part of the Evros peripheral unit of Thrace, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, about 20 km north...

 on 22 December 1882, the son of Agapios Eugenidis, a senior judge in the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, and of Charikleia Afentaki. He studied at the prestigious Robert College

Robert College

Robert College of Istanbul , is one of the most selective independent private high schools in Turkey. Robert College is a co-educational, boarding school with a wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul between the two bridges on the Bosphorus, with the Arnavutköy district to the east, and...

, the most selective independent private high school in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, which he graduated at the age of twenty. By that time Eugenidis had already envisioned the possibility of going to Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 and building large shipyards, on a par with the best in the world.

Business and success

Shortly after his graduation, he secured for himself a position with a large British shipping house Doro's Brothers and in 1904, aged 24, he became the general manager of the commercial shipping agency Reppen and only a little later an associate of the agency, focusing on lumber trading and his cooperation with the Swedish shipping company Broström Conzern. During that time he created his own shipyard in the Golden Horn

Golden Horn

The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...

 bay. In 1923, after the Asia Minor disaster, he moved to Greece where he established the Scandinavian Near East Agency in correspondence with the Svenska Orient Linien general shipping agency, which he had founded in 1907. Through his relation with the Scandinavian and Baltic States due to lumber trading, Eugenidis also became an international intermediate for the development of Greece's foreign relations with those countries. As a result in 1926 he was appointed consul-general of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 in Greece. In 1937 he acquired the first ship fully owned by him named HS Argo. Between 1929 and 1939 he was appointed as president of several shipping companies, of both Greek and foreign investors.

Not long after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 had broken out, Eugenidis had to move to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 where he set up a line providing regular connections between North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 by steamship. Finally, he went to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 and it is in the course of his stay there that he planned his post-war activities. He foresaw that a strong flow of immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 from the devastated countries of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 was very likely to occur, and turned to ocean liners. He established Home Line, based in Genoa, and managed four ocean liners that carried immigrants from Europe to Africa, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Two years after the end of the war, in 1947, Eugenidis settled down in Vevey

Vevey

Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, and from there he ran his operations, which by that time had extended across the world. In 1953, his interest turned again to Greece: he set up an ocean liner connection with North America and a regular freight line to South America while continuing with the development of the innovative activities of the Scandinavian Near East Agency.

In 1953 after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake

1953 Ionian Earthquake

The Great 1953 Ionian Earthquake struck the southern Ionian Islands in Greece on August 12, 1953. In mid-August 1953, beginning on 8 August there were over 113 recorded earthquakes in the region between Kefalonia and Zakynthos, but the most destructive was the earthquake of August 12th...

 totally devastated most of the Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...

, he offered substantial sums of money to families who suffered the most damage, as well as acting as an intermediate for the humanitarian aid offered to Greece by the Scandinavian countries, in response to one of Greece's worst natural disaster in centuries. The village of Evgeniko

Evgeniko

Evgeniko is a village in the northeastern part of the Evros Prefecture in Greece, located south of Orestiada, 15 km west of Turkey and Uzunköprü, north of Didymoteicho and 16 km east of Bulgaria. Evgeniko is part of the community of Mani within the municipality of Didymoteicho. The village is...

 in Thrace was also renamed in his honor, after he provided for its crucial water supply.

In 1954, Spyros Melas wrote of him in Estia

Estia

Estia is a national newspaper published daily in Athens, Greece. It is generally considered a broadsheet of a conservative, right-wing political alignment, and an advocate of free-market policies...

newspaper: "He (Eugenios Eugenides) confessed to me once, when I first met him as the General Consul for Finland in his Glyfada villa, that as far back as when seated in the classrooms of Robert College, where he had been an honour student, he had been dreaming of making a fortune, not only just for himself but in order to be able to be of help to others. This he did as a true Christian and a true patriot, in silence, almost in secret. He gave in to all the requests he thought were for the public good... He would pay for publications, finance missions, grant scholarships, facilitate journeys ... there was a whole list of poor people he helped and it is from them that the payment of his monthly obligations started."

As a recognition of his services to Greece he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix.

Death and legacy

Eugenidis died unexpectedly in April 1954, as a businessman of international repute and in his own country a great benefactor. In his will he requested the establishment of a foundation which would contribute to the scientific and technological education of young people in Greece.
The Evgenidio Foundation

Evgenidio Foundation

The Evgenidio Foundation was established in 1956 in Athens, Greece implementing the will of the late Greek benefactor Εugenios Eugenidis, who died in April 1954. It has the form of private legal entity under law. The activity of the foundation, in accordance with its articles of association, is to...

was established in 1956 in Athens, Greece. On 7 June 1965, a grand ceremony in the presence of the country's political and intellectual leadership marked the opening of the building on Syggrou Avenue that was to house it. The contemporary periodical Argo said: "Our country had long lacked a palace for education in science and technology. It has just recently acquired one. The generosity of the national patron Eugenios Eugenides has made amends for the powerlessness of our national financial want".

Eugenidis' shipping company, the Scandinavian Near East Agency, continues to remain in business, as part of the Evge Group, a group of companies that have been developed by the heirs of Eugenidis, and offers a diverse range of services in shipping, freight forwarding and logistical support.

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