Stavros Spyros Niarchos Shipping magnate Date of Birth: 03.07.1909 Country: Greece

Biography of Stavros Spyros Niarchos

Stavros Spyros Niarchos, also known as "The Golden Greek," was a Greek shipping magnate born on July 3, 1909, in Athens. His parents, Spyros Niarchos and Eugenia Coumandaros, were naturalized Americans who owned a store in Buffalo, New York. They returned to Greece three months before Stavros was born. Stavros studied law at the University of Athens and later joined his family's grain business. It was during this time that he convinced his relatives that the company could make greater profits by owning its own ships.

During World War II, while serving as a naval officer, a part of the trading fleet he had built with his uncle was destroyed. Insurance companies paid them around 2 million dollars, which Stavros used to construct a new fleet. He founded "Niarchos Ltd.," an international shipping company that owned over 80 tankers transporting bulk cargoes worldwide. In 1952, Niarchos built his first supertanker for oil transportation, following in the footsteps of his main rival, Aristotle Onassis.

During the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956, a six-month-long international armed Arab-Israeli conflict, the demand for large-tonnage vessels significantly increased. Niarchos' business thrived, and he became a billionaire. After the 1973 oil crisis, Stavros Niarchos sold part of his companies and ventured into diamond trading and finance. In the 1980s, he spent more time in Geneva, managing his global business. He retired only in the 1990s, earning the nickname "The Golden Greek" from his fellow countrymen. He settled in Saint-Moritz, Graubünden, Switzerland, where he enjoyed his favorite sport, skiing.

In 1956, Stavros Niarchos acquired a significant art collection previously owned by the famous American actor Edward Robinson. Over the decades, Niarchos' collection became one of the wealthiest private collections of artworks in the world, including more than 100 paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. In 1989, the billionaire purchased a self-portrait by Picasso for $47,850,000 and added works by Van Gogh, Goya, El Greco, and Rubens to his collection.

In the early 1970s, Niarchos began investing in breeding thoroughbred horses and established a highly successful stable. His horses competed in France and the United Kingdom. He acquired Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard, a stud farm in Basse-Normandie, France, and Oak Tree Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. His famous mare, Miesque, was trained at Oak Tree Farm and achieved great success in racing.

Stavros Niarchos was married five times and had two daughters, Maria and Elena, and three sons, Philippe, Spyros, and Konstantin. His first marriage was to Helen Sporides, Admiral Constantine Sporides' daughter, in 1930, but they divorced a year later. From 1937 to 1947, he was married to Melpomene Capparis. His third wife was Eugenia Livanos, daughter of shipping magnate Stavros Livanos. They married in 1947 and divorced in 1965. They had four children together, but Eugenia tragically died in 1970 at the age of 43 from a barbiturate overdose on a private island owned by the family.

Stavros Niarchos then married Charlotte Ford, an heiress of the Ford automotive empire, in 1966. They had a daughter named Elena, but they divorced within a year. Niarchos returned to Eugenia, but they did not remarry officially because their divorce in Mexico was invalid in Greece. Finally, in 1971, he married Athina Mary Livanos Onassis Spencer-Churchill, the younger sister of his late wife Eugenia. Athina passed away from a drug overdose three years later.

From the late 1970s until his death, Stavros maintained a relationship with Princess Firyal of Jordan. There were rumors of an affair with another member of ancient royal lineage, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy. Stavros Niarchos passed away on April 16, 1996, at the age of 86 in Zurich. He was buried in the family vault in Lausanne.