Thanasis Giannakopoulos (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Θανάσης Γιαννακόπουλος; 1930/31 – 19 March 2019) was a Greek businessman, and a one-time pro

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

owner. The Giannakopoulos family has a combined estimated net worth as per their collective €1 billion business empire.

Vianex

Giannakopoulos and his brother,

Pavlos Pavlos () or Pávlos () is a masculine given name. It is a Greek form of Paul. It may refer to: * Pavlos Bakoyannis (1935–1989), a liberal Greek politician *Pavlos Carrer (1829–1896), a Greek composer * Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece ( ...

, were the owners of the

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

corporation Vianex, which was founded in 1924, by their father, Dimitrios Giannakopoulos, as a small local import and distribution firm. Vianex currently manufactures and markets, in Greece and elsewhere, a variety of products, in collaboration with leading international firms. The company reported net sales of €240.2 million euros in 2012. In 2006, Pavlos' personal fortune was estimated to be €400 million euros, one half of the Giannakopoulos brothers' €800 million euros business empire.

Panathinaikos Athens

From 1987 to 2012, the Giannakopoulos brothers managed Panathinaikos B.C.,

Panathinaikos V.C. Panathinaikos V.C. ( el, ΤΑΑ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο.), also known simply as Panathinaikos, or with its full name Panathinaikos A.O. ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, transliterated "Panathinaikos Athlit ...

, and all of the

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

club's amateur sports sections, from the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

department to the

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

department. Thanasis was also the Chairman of the volleyball and amateur sections. Thanasis was also President of the basketball club, from 2002 to 2012. Through 2012, Panathinaikos had won 13 out of the last 15

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

championships (excluding the 2001–02, and 2011–12 seasons) and the EuroLeague championship in the years 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011. The club, during that time, also featured some of the best basketball players from Greece, along with star players from abroad, such as

Byron Scott Byron Antom Scott (born March 28, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, Scott won three NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their ...

Dominique Wilkins Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born January 12, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, a seven-time All ...

and

Dejan Bodiroga Dejan Bodiroga ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Бодирога; born 2 March 1973) is a Serbian basketball executive and former professional player who is the Chairman of the Euroleague Basketball. During his playing career, he mainly played at the sm ...

. The basketball section of the club alone had a reported budget of €35 million in 2009. In 2011, Thanasis and his brother

, won the

EuroLeague Club Executive of the Year Award The Gianluigi Porelli EuroLeague Executive of the Year is an annual award of Europe's premier level men's basketball league, the EuroLeague. The award was introduced in the 2004–05 season. It is given to the league's best club CEO of each s ...

. In 2012, Thanasis' nephew,

Dimitrios Giannakopoulos Dimitrios Pavlos Giannakopoulos (alternate spellings: Dimitris Giannacopoulos) (Greek: Δημήτρης Παύλος Γιαννακόπουλος) (born on June 22, 1974, Athens) is a Greek businessman and pharmaceutical manufacturer. He is the P ...

, the son of his brother,

, took over control of Panathinaikos B.C.

Personal life

Nicknamed as ''typhoon'' (tifonas) for his emotional character, Giannakopolous was also famous for his multi-coloured neckties with floral patterns.

Death

Giannakopoulos died from complications of a stroke on 19 March 2019 in Athens.

References

External links

Vianex WebsitePanathinaikos B.C. Website – Board of Directors
1930s births 2019 deaths Greek basketball chairmen and investors Greek businesspeople Greek volleyball chairmen and investors Panathinaikos A.O. Panathinaikos B.C. Panathinaikos B.C. presidents Panathinaikos V.C. Greek industrialists {{greece-business-bio-stub