The Onassis Foundation and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of FORTH launch a publication on Aristotle Onassis’ business history
The Onassis Foundation and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of FORTH join forces to produce a publication on Aristotle Onassis’ entrepreneurial activities. The volume “Onassis Business History 1924-1975,” based on the Onassis Archive material, captures the fifty-year operation of a multinational business group with companies on three continents and in 14 countries and activities around the globe.
Aristotle Onassis is the most famous shipowner of the 20th century, the archetype of the ship-owning magnate, the symbol of Greek enterprise on a global scale. The shipping group he founded determined the path of Greek and global shipping. Onassis is one of those visionary entrepreneurs who paved the way and contributed to innovative actions by combining the Greek and European maritime expertise with the American institutions and resources.
His brilliance gave fuel to a plethora of sensational publications, based on (mis)interpretations of his personal life. This newly-published volume sets out to examine all aspects of Onassis’ business activities in shipping, airline, shipbuilding and oil industries, trade and finance, through his partnerships and not least his conflicts with the economic and political establishments in Europe and America.
Aristotle Onassis created the shipping business of the new globalized era, which operates to this day following the institutional standards he himself set. The Onassis Business Foundation, which began its activities in 1924, celebrates one hundred years of active presence: fifty years of operation under Aristotle Onassis and another fifty under the Onassis business family. An enterprise with no heirs, no shareholders, no relatives or bosses, which exists exclusively for the Foundation’s public benefit projects, almost fifty years after its founder passed away.
The “Onassis Business History 1924-1975” is published by the Crete University Press (CUP).
"Aristotle Onassis’ legacy survives to this day through the actions of the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. The Onassis Foundation successfully continues, almost 50 years later, Aristotle Onassis’ business activities in shipping, real estate, and financial investments."
“In the grand narrative of the Greek 20th century, there are very few figures whose story largely overlaps with the Economic History of Greece, while at the same time transcending it. Such is the case of Aristotle Onassis.
The present project aspires to chart his multifaceted economic activity: from shipping to the Olympic Airways, the Olympic Tower in New York City, and numerous other investments. Some were successful, others were not; yet they all left their imprint. A path marked toward the end of his life by a personal tragedy, but also by a brave decision.
Aristotle Onassis’ legacy survives to this day through the actions of the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. The Onassis Foundation successfully continues, almost 50 years later, Aristotle Onassis’ business activities in shipping, real estate, and financial investments. The profits from these activities were used for the creation of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and the Onassis National Transplant Center, the Onassis Stegi, which hosts the leading cultural productions in Greece, the provision of 7,700 postgraduate scholarships, and for its other activities in health, culture, and education.
From 1924, when Aristotle Onassis’ entrepreneurial activities began, to 1975, when the Foundation was created, and from then to the present day, we are enriching a history of bravery, open horizons, human networks, and democratization. A path of tradition with a view to the future.”
Anthony S. Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation
The Onassis Archive, an initiative of the Onassis Foundation, consists of hundreds of archive boxes containing tens of thousands of documents from Aristotle Onassis’ fifty-year business activity, as well as from the years that followed. The Archive reflects the operation of a multinational business group, with companies on three continents (Europe, Asia, America) and in 14 countries (Greece, France, Monaco, Germany, Norway, Sweden, England, Argentina, Uruguay, Panama, Honduras, United States, Saudi Arabia, and Liberia) and activities all over the world; its creation is a novelty in the field of business history, not only in Greece but also internationally.
The organization, cataloging, and classification of the Onassis Archive, as well as the writing of the Onassis business history, are the result of a research project commissioned by the Onassis Foundation to the Center of Maritime History (Institute for Mediterranean Studies, FORTH), undertaken by a research group led by Ms. Gelina Harlaftis.
