Constantine Leventis (1938-2002)

Constantine Leventis was born in Larnaca, Cyprus in 1938. He was educated at the primary school of Morphou, Cyprus, and in Stockbridge, Hampshire, UK, and had his secondary education at Harrow School, UK. At Harrow School he won a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge, to study Classics.

He worked in Ghana (A.G. Leventis & Company Ltd) from late 1959 to mid 1963 and thereafter with the A.G. Leventis Group in Nigeria, where he eventually became a Director and, for a period, Chairman of various public companies of the Group.

In 1979 Constantine Leventis became Chairman of the A.G. Leventis Foundation and for 23 years he supervised its activities as well as those of its sister Foundations in Cyprus and Nigeria.

In 1979 he was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Cyprus to UNESCO, a position which he held until his passing. He served as a member of the board of the University of Cyprus and of other educational and cultural organisations such as Europa Nostra and the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens.

Constantine Leventis always kept a low profile and never sought recognition. However, he was widely acknowledged and repeatedly honoured. Among other distinctions, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece), Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), to the Order of Stara Planina (Bulgaria), Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Fellow of the Universities of North London and of Royal Holloway, University of London. He was also awarded the Silver Medal of the Academy of Athens, the Cross of the Apostle and Evangelist Mark of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and a LL.D Honoris Causa of The University of Legon, Ghana.

In1970, Constantine Leventis married Edmée Vassiliades, and had two sons and a daughter.