EULOGY OF VANGELIS CHRONIS TO HIS FRIEND ANDREAS NIKANDROU28.12.2023
Andreas has been an extremely important close partner almost since he joined Latsis Group of Companies in 1979. As the Financial Director of the group of companies based in Athens, Geneva and Jeddah untll 2001 he traveled all the same, always carrying a suitcase in hand and numerous hotels in Geneva and Saudi Arabia had become his second home.His cooperation with the founder of the Group of companies Giannis Latsis, has been close and substantial, as it was with Spyros Latsis until recently. They both valued him and trusted his opinion and suggestions. Andreas has never failed them.From 2001 until November 9th, 2023, he worked as a Financial Consultant to the Group’s companies in the Arab countries. The trips during this period were significantly less, but still considerable. During his trips to Saudi Arabia, he would never choose a direct flight, but made sure he passed through Nicosia.He was particularly loved by all his associates who came into direct contact with him and even among our other thousands of associates who had got to know him. Our partners appreciated his humble character, his professionalism, the fair way in which he worked and for many people he was a mentor and a role model.During the last twelve years, I was lucky enough to cooperate with him even more closely and on a daily basis except for the short periods when he visited his home country, Cyprus. The last five years at the offices of Spyros Latsis in Athens brought us even closer and we had the opportunity to get to know each other in depth and become good friends.Andreas has been a mentor and a role model for me as well, in various occasions. Justice was his greatest asset. He was honest, hardworking, tireless, a loyal friend to those he met, smiling and always with a good word to say. Of course, he did not lack rigor and persistence many times, but in the end, he always proved the correctness and justice of his point. I deeply appreciated his love and devotion to his family. His reference to his beloved Fifi and his adorable children Nikos, Kiki and Lena were daily and always expressed himself with great love and tenderness. He loved and spoke about all the members of his family and his grandchildren in such a heartwarming way, complaining at the same time that he did not enjoy them as much as he would like to. Almost every day he warmly referred to his classmates and his beloved Saint Barbara, about whom the stories were surreal and reached a literary level.Every afternoon at about 14:30 – 15:00 Giannis or Minas took him to his house in Cholargos, so that the food that Fifi prepared for him would not get cold.Quite often, blown by the conversations he had with Argyro, Leonardo, Fotini and Angeliki, he delayed to leave.The stories he told about his beloved island were endless and I am glad that in 2018 I convinced him to publish his book ‘ALISMONITA CHRONIA’ by KastaniotisPublications, which was nothing more than some kind of autobiography of his important journey and the creation of his family. In 2021, Stochastis published his second book entitled ‘PEOPLE, BRICKS AND SWALLOWS’, which referred to his memories from Cyprus in the 1940s.A third book on the customs and traditions of the island would follow, but he did not manage to complete it. Who knows, maybe the Angels are lucky enough to enjoy it.Within the last 44 years, Andreas left his mark in our Group in such a unique way and will remain alive in our memory and in our heart.We say him goodbye with the poem “YOUNG IN HADES”:
In death we are all young
newly dead we were buried young
taking the place of the old.
The dead of the day that goes by
are nothing but new young ones in Hades