The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation (Greek: Κοινωφελές Ίδρυμα Αλέξανδρος Σ. Ωνάσης), commonly known as Onassis Foundation (Greek: Ίδρυμα Ωνάση) is a public benefit foundation based in Athens, Greece. It was created by Aristotle Onassis to honor the memory of his son Alexander, who died at age 24 in an airplane crash in 1973.
History
Aristotle Onassis died in 1975, and had directed in his will that half of his estate should be transferred upon his own death to a foundation to be established in his son's name.[1] In 1975, the executors of the estate accordingly established a pair of foundations, incorporated in Vaduz, Liechtenstein: the Business Foundation, which acts as a holding company for the underlying business interests, and the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, which is the sole beneficiary of the Business Foundation.
The executors and original members of the Board of Directors, appointed in 1975 by Aristotle Onassis in his will, were his executives and business associates. Among them Nikos Kokkinis, Michael Dologlou, Stelios Papadimitriou, Paul Ioannidis, Apostolos Zambelas, Creon Brown, etc. Through time, other persons were added, such as Theodoros Gavriilidis.[2][3][4][5]
The public benefit foundation is based in Athens. Aristotle's daughter, Christina Onassis, served as the first president of the foundation until her death in 1988.[6] She was succeeded by Stelios Papadimitriou, Aristotle Onassis' lawyer who died in 2005.[7] Anthony S. Papadimitriou, the latter's son, serves as the current president.[8]
The foundation is one of the largest in Europe, using its assets to create scholarship and prize programs, build the $75 million Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens (designed by London-based hospital architect Llewelyn Davies), endow Greek studies chairs at universities, and support other projects.[6] All activities of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, from the time of its establishment to the present, are funded exclusively by the profits of the Business Foundation, which engages mainly in shipping and real estate investments.
Activities & projects
The Foundation is active in the fields of health, education, and culture, supporting a continuous connection with Greece and contemporary Greek culture.
The Foundation aims at promoting Greek culture and civilization throughout the world and in Greece. The first international affiliate Onassis Foundation, now known as OnassisUSA, was established in New York City to disseminate information about Hellenic civilization throughout North and South America.[6][9]
The Foundation undertook the establishment of the Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,[10] the renovation and equipment of the libraries of the National Archaeological Museum,[11] the Byzantine & Christian Museum[12] and the Benaki Museum in Athens, the architectural preservation and restoration of sites and buildings around the world (such as C. P. Cavafy’s House in Alexandria, Egypt),[13] as well as other endeavors centered on arts and culture, including projects in the public space, like open-air exhibitions (at first in Athens and later in Ioannina),[14][15] creation or restoration of cultural spaces[16][17][18] and a series of large-scale artworks by Greek artists mainly in Athens Metropolitan Area.[19][20][21]
The Onassis Cultural Center (now Onassis Stegi), Foundation's venue, was built in Athens in 2004 and opened in December 2010.[22][23][24] Onassis Stegi's artistic programming addresses issues of democracy, social and environmental justice, racial and gender equality, and LGBTI+ rights.[25]
The Foundation's US presence (Onassis USA) is in the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue, which was built in 1976 and combines offices, shops and luxury apartments. It is also home to the Onassis Cultural Center,[26] which has been open intermittently for exhibits and other programming, but as of 2018 is no longer regularly open to the public. From 2020 to 2022, the Onassis USA also maintained operations through its branch in Los Angeles (Onassis LA, aka OLA House) under Paul Holdengräber, mainly during COVID-19 pandemic.[27]
In the fields of health, the Foundation donated the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre (OCSC) to Greece in 1992. Close to it, the Onassis National Transplant Centre (ONTC), is under construction and is expected to be delivered to the Greek State c. 2025.[28][29] In 2018, Onassis Foundation reconstructed the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center at the Andreas Syngros Hospital in Athens.[30] Moreover, the Foundation provided financial support to organizations such as ELPIDA and the Hellenic Society for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Disabled Children (ELEPAP).[31][32] In 2020, it implemented donations related to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece.[33]
Beginning in 1978, the Foundation has established international awards, which are handed out to individuals and organizations in the fields of culture, social achievement and the environment. Since 2008 the awards were redesigned and expanded as the Onassis International Prize for Shipping, Trade, and Finance in partnership with Bayes Business School, University of London, and the City of London.[34][35][36]