Niarchos family

Early life

Niarchos was born in Athens to a wealthy family, the son of Spyros Niarchos and his wife, Eugenie Koumantaros, a rich heiress, both born in the village of Vamvakou in the Peloponnese. His parents were naturalized United States Citizens who had owned a department store in Buffalo, New York, before returning to Greece, three months prior to his birth. They returned to Buffalo for a brief time, and the young Stavros attended the Nardin Academy grammar school. They returned, permanently, to Greece, and Stavros studied in the city's best private school, before starting university. He studied law at the University of Athens, after which he went to work for his maternal uncles in the Koumantaros family's grain business. During this period, he became involved in shipping, by convincing his uncles their firm would be more profitable, if it owned its own ships.

Personal life

Niarchos was married five times:

To Helen Sporides in 1930, a daughter of Admiral Constantine Sporides, lasted one year. To Melpomene Capparis in 1939, a widow of a Greek diplomat, whom he divorced in 1947. To Eugenia Livanos in 1947, a daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos. They divorced in 1965; 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). To Charlotte Ford in 1965, daughter of tycoon automaker Henry Ford II, in Mexico. Their daughter Elena Anne Ford was born six months later. When the marriage ended in divorce the following year Niarchos returned to his former wife, Eugenia. No remarriage was necessary, since the couple's 1965 Mexican divorce had not been recognised by Greek law. To Athina Mary Livanos, his third wife Eugenia's sister, in 1971. Then the Marchioness of Blandford, Athina had been the first wife of Aristotle Onassis. Her death in 1974 was either caused by an acute edema of the lung or a drug overdose. 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.

Niarchos died on 15 April 1996 in Zürich. He is buried in the family tomb in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery in Lausanne. His fortune was estimated to be worth $12 billion at the time of his death. He left 20% of his fortune to a charitable trust to be established in his name and the remainder to his three sons and daughter Maria, by his marriage to Greek shipping heiress, Eugenia Livanos, a nephew, and a great nephew. He notably excluded from his will Elena Ford, his daughter by his ex-wife, heiress and socialite Charlotte M. Ford. Elena sued the estate in both Swiss and Greek courts for her one-tenth share, estimated to be worth £700 million.

Career

Niarchos was a naval officer in World War II, during which time part of the trade fleet he had developed with his uncle was destroyed. He used about two million dollars in insurance settlement to build a new fleet. His most famous asset was the yacht Atlantis, currently known as Issham al Baher, after having been gifted to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. He then founded Niarchos Ltd., an international shipping company that, at one time, operated more than 80 tankers worldwide. He and Aristotle Onassis were great shipping rivals. In 1952, high-capacity oil supertankers were built for the competing Niarchos and Onassis fleets, who both claimed to own the largest tanker in the world. In 1955, Vickers Armstrongs Shipbuilders Ltd launched the 30,708 GRT SS Spyros Niarchos. Then the world's largest supertanker, it was named after Niarchos' second son, Spyros, born earlier that year. In 1956, the Suez Canal Crisis considerably increased the demand for the type of large-tonnage ships that Niarchos owned. Business flourished, and he became a billionaire.