Athanasios Palaeologos

Extensive reference to his donation to the Library of the University of the Aegean was made by both the local and the Athenian press.

The donation of Mr Palaeologos is a gesture of high symbolism not only as a sign of love of an expatriate Lesbian towards his homeland and the University of the Aegean, but also as the lasting legacy of a man who “saw the homeless and knew nothing” to young people about the value of education and education.

Also, having himself embraced the Chinese proverb “If you plan for a year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years, plant trees. If you plan for a hundred years, educate your children”, his gesture is an investment in the future of the country.

Finally, as stated in the University of the Aegean’s letter of thanks to Mr. Paleologos, his act is a concrete example of the allocation of money for the benefit of the whole.

Mr. Athanasios Palaeologou was born in Napi, Lesvos, in 1928. His parents were Georgios and Sophia Palaeologou. His graduation from Primary School almost coincided with the declaration of the Greek-Italian War. During the difficult years of the German Occupation, after his father’s illness from pleurisy, he was called upon to assume the burden of family responsibilities as the eldest male child of the family, at the age of only 13. The struggle to support his family and his survivor deprived him not only of the carefree life of his age, but also of the opportunity to continue his studies (he was attending the Urban School of Agia Paraskevi on Lesvos), to which he had a special affinity and zeal.

After the civil war and the fulfillment of his military obligations, he went to Massachusetts, USA, in 1956, accepting an invitation from his uncle. He was taught English by three cousins who were teachers and worked in various jobs.

In 1958 he moved to California and specifically to Santa Clara Valley, later called Silicon Valley. There he worked and met people who helped him a lot, such as Richard Mansaw, who was a Professor of Psychology at San Jose City College. At his encouragement, he attended the aforementioned college for two years and continued his studies at San Jose State University from which he graduated in 1973 with a degree in Geography. Because he was thinking of returning to Greece to work in the teaching of English, he attended the post-graduate program “English as a Second Language”. He completed his postgraduate studies at San Francisco State University in 1975 and returned to Greece in the same year. He taught English for a few months in a language school in Neo Psychiko and Derveni but then, due to unsatisfactory earnings, he returned to San Jose. For a few months he worked at IBM.

From 1976 until his retirement in 1993, he worked at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, where he taught Greek. In October 1993 he returned to Greece and settled in Varkiza, and in 2015 he returned to Lesvos.