Stavros Spyros Niarchos biography

 Stavros Spyros Niarchos biography

 Stavros Spyros Niarchos, (born July 3, 1909, Athens, Greece—died April 15, 1996, Zürich, Switz.), Greek transport magnate and artwork collector.

In 1929 Niarchos graduated from the University of Athens in legislation and started working in his uncle’s flour mill. Recognizing the nice transportation expense in importing Argentine wheat, Niarchos satisfied his household that it will lower your expenses if it owned its personal ships. Six freighters had been purchased for $120,000 throughout the Great Depression, and in 1939 Niarchos branched off to kind his personal agency, Niarchos Group, by which he owned two tankers and 5 different vessels.

While Niarchos served within the Greek navy throughout World War II, the Allied forces leased his ships, six of which had been subsequently sunk in fight. Niarchos used the ensuing $2,000,000 of insurance coverage cash as capital to broaden his fleet and, specifically, to purchase oil tankers. His philosophy was to purchase and construct massive, and plenty of of his supertankers set world data in dimension and carrying capability. For a few years he owned the biggest personal fleet on the earth, a few of his keenest opponents being his brother-in-law, Aristotle Onassis, and his father-in-law, Stavros Livanos. At its peak his transport firm, Niarchos Ltd., operated greater than 80 tankers, although Niarchos later bought off most of this fleet.

Niarchos additionally earned a popularity as an artwork investor and collector. In 1957 he bought the French Impressionist artwork assortment of the American actor Edward G. Robinson for greater than $2,500,000. Although he owned properties in New York, London, Paris, and Athens, he spent a lot of his time on the Mediterranean Sea aboard his yacht Creole.