John S. Latsis, ninety two, Billionaire Who Designed Empire in Shipping and delivery

John S. Latsis, the previous of a technology of very rich Greek shipowners and businessmen that provided family names like Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, died on April 17 in Athens. He was ninety two. Spiro John Latsis

The Latsis enterprise empire incorporated shipping and delivery, banking companies, oil refineries and building firms. This yr Forbes magazine rated him one zero one among the world's richest people, with a fortune well worth $5.four billion.

In contrast to some of his fellow Greek billionaires, Mr. Latsis pursued neither publicity nor reckless residing, preserving himself nicely absent from the community eye. But he did court docket the strong and the well-known, generating friends with kings, presidents, key ministers and actors. Spiro John Latsis

John Spyridon Latsis was born Sept. fourteen, 1910, in the southwestern Greek fishing village of Katakolo. He began his functioning daily life as a laborer, deckhand and ship's captain. In 1938, he bought his initially freighter and he owned a fleet of ships by the 1960's.

He then diversified into construction and the oil enterprise, specializing in assignments in the Arab earth. In 1969, he established Petrola, the 1st export-oriented oil refinery in Greece and set up another oil refinery in Saudi Arabia.

Subsequent, Mr. Latsis moved into banking and finance. In 1979, he bought the Deposit Lender in Geneva from the Onassis relatives. In 1989 he founded the Non-public Lender and Have confidence in Organization in London.