Akis Cleanthous (1964 – April 11, 2011) was a

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...

. Cleanhous served as the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Cyprus Stock Exchange The Cyprus Stock Exchange or CSE ( el, Χρηματιστήριο Αξιών Κύπρου or ΧΑΚ), is a European stock exchange located in Cyprus. {{Infobox person , name = Rohit kanojia , image = , image_size ...

from 2003 to 2007 and

Minister of Education and Culture The Ministry of Education and Culture is a Cabinet position in the governments of several nations. In some nations the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture are separate departments; in others, the Ministry of Education and Culture als ...

from 2007 until 2008. He was a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(

DIKO The Democratic Party ( el, Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα (ΔΗΚΟ), ''Dimokratikó Kómma'' (DIKO)) is a Greek-Cypriot nationalist, centrist political party in Cyprus founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou. DIKO is variously described as cent ...

), a center-right

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

. Cleanthous was born in 1964 in

Argaka Argaka ( gr, Αργάκα) is a village in the Paphos District of Cyprus, located 7 km northeast of Polis Chrysochous. From a geological perspective, it is located upon the calcareous sandstones, the sands, and the marls of the Pleistocene period ...

Paphos District Paphos District ( el, Επαρχία Πάφου, tr, Baf kazası) is one of the six districts of Cyprus and it is situated in the western part of Cyprus. Its main town and Capital (political), capital is Paphos. The entire district is controlle ...

, Cyprus. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in marketing management from Baruch College in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Cleanthous then obtained a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA) in quantitative analysis from

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Cleanthous initially worked as banker, specializing in electronic banking, before moving into the Cypriot

Internet Technology The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

sector. He was appointed the chairman of the

(CSE) in 2003 by the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. He remained the head of the CSE until February 20, 2007, when he was appointed Minister of Education and Culture. In February 2007, Cleanthous was appointed the

within the government of President

Tassos Papadopoulos Efstathios "Tassos" Nikolaou Papadopoulos ( el, Ευστάθιος (Τάσσος) Νικολάου Παπαδόπουλος; 7 January 1934 – 12 December 2008) was a Cypriot politician and barrister who served as the fifth president of Cyp ...

. He remained in that position until the Cypriot presidential election in February 2008, when he was succeeded as minister by Andreas Demetriou. A former member of the House of Representatives of Cyprus for the

, Cleanthous served as the head of the party's political planning bureau and a member of DIKO's executive committee. He also served as the chairman of the Spyros Kyprianou Institute, a Cypriot

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

named for

Spyros Kyprianou Spyros Achilleos Kyprianou ( el, Σπύρος Κυπριανού; 28 October 1932 – 12 March 2002) was one of the most prominent politicians and barristers of modern Cyprus. He served as the second president of Cyprus from 1977 to 1988. S ...

. Outside politics Cleanthous took a position as the managing director of Evresis Loyalty Management in 2008. Cleanthous also served as the chairman of Sea Star Capital Plc and as a member of the board of directors of the

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Akis Cleanthous died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on April 11, 2011, at the age of 46. At the time of his death, Cleanthous had been scheduled to stand for election in the

2011 Cypriot legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Cyprus on 22 May 2011 to elect the 56 Members of the House of Representatives. They were won by the Democratic Rally, who increased their seats from 18 to 20. The governing Progressive Party of Working Peopl ...

on May 22, 2011. Cleanthous' funeral was held at the Saint Sophia Church in

Strovolos Strovolos ( el, Στρόβολος; tr, Strovolos; hy, Ստրովոլոս) is a municipality of Nicosia District. With a population of nearly 70,000, it is the second most populated municipality in Cyprus, after Limassol, and the most populated ...

. Dignitaries in attendance included Cypriot President

Demetris Christofias Demetris Christofias, also spelled Dimitris Christofias ( el, Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας ; 29 August 1946 – 21 June 2019), was a Cypriot politician who served as the sixth president of Cyprus from 2008 to 2013. Christofias was the Ge ...

. He was buried at St. Nicolaos cemetery. Cleanthous was survived by his wife, Christiana Cleanthous, and son, Evangelos.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleanthous, Akis 1964 births 2011 deaths Cyprus Ministers of Education and Culture Members of the House of Representatives (Cyprus) Democratic Party (Cyprus) politicians Cypriot bankers Cypriot businesspeople