Pericles Panagopoulos (29 December 1935 – 5 February 2019) was a
Greekshippingmagnate. He is considered to have been an institutor of the modern shipping industry,[1][2] and the most successful Greek shipping magnate since
Aristotle Onassis.[3] He gained acclaim for having created three shipping business entities, in his lifetime. In 1989, he sold Royal Cruise Lines to Kloster for a reported US$300 million (US$607 million as converted in 2019).[4] In 2007, he sold his Athens-based
Attica Group for about US$404 million to Marfin Investment Group (MIG).[5] He also owns Magna Marine Inc., a modern shipping company that owns and runs modern bulk carriers.[6] His death was announced by his wife, on Facebook on February 5, 2019.[7][8]
Early life
Panagopoulos was born in a nursing home in
Athens. His father built hotel Veto in Athens. The hotel was taken over by Nazi officers in WWII, during the
Axis occupation of Greece. After five months of hospitalization, his father died, following a violent attack by the
Nazi occupiers.[9] Leaving the young Pericles and his two half-brothers to be brought up by his widowed mother from
Constantinople.
Career
In 1972 in partnership with
Barney A. Ebsworth, he formed
Royal Cruise Line. The m/s Golden Odyssey was the company's first cruise ship. Built in Helsingor Shipyard and delivered in 1974, she was designed to carry 450 passengers as this was the capacity of the 747 Jumbo Jet airplane. The company grew with the addition of the 850-passenger Royal Odyssey in 1982 and the 1000-passenger Crown Odyssey in 1988 before getting acquired by Kloster Cruises in 1989. In 1993, Pericles Panagopoulos co-founded with his son
Alexander Panagopoulos,
Superfast Ferries, as part of the
Attica Group, an Athens-listed holding corporation.
His family paid a
ransom of €30 million (approximately $39 million) to secure Panagopoulos's release.[21][22] The ransom was reported by
Greek police to be the highest ever paid.[23]