Pavlos D. Giannakopoulos (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Παύλος Δ. Γιαννακόπουλος; 20 August 1929 – 10 June 2018) was a Greek businessman, owner and president of
Panathinaikos B.C. and president of
Panathinaikos AC.
Vianex
Along with his brother,
Thanasis Giannakopoulos, he was the owner of the major Greek
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
corporation
Vianex
Vianex S.A. (Greek: Βιανεξ Α.Ε.) is a Greek pharmaceutical company founded by Pavlos Giannakopoulos and it has been engaged in the pharmaceutical industry since 1924.
With more than 90 years of experience in the field of medicinal produc ...
, which was founded in 1924 by their father Dimitrios Giannakopoulos as a small local import and distribution firm. Vianex currently manufactures and markets, in Greece and elsewhere, a variety of products, in collaboration with leading international firms. The company reported net sales of €240.2 million euros in 2012. In 2006, Pavlos' personal fortune was estimated to be €450 million euros, one half of the Giannakopoulos brothers' €975 million euros business empire.
Panathinaikos Athens
From 1987 to 2012, the Giannakopoulos brothers managed
Panathinaikos'
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
, and all amateur sports teams, from
athletics to
water polo
Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with t ...
. Their involvement with Panathinaikos' basketball team was their greatest success, in both domestic and European competitions. Pavlos was the President of the basketball department from 1987 to 2000 and together with his brother from 2003 to 2012.
Through 2012, Panathinaikos had won 13 out of the last 15
Greek Basket League
The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...
championships (excluding the 2001–02, and 2011–12 seasons), and the
EuroLeague championship in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011. The club, during that time, featured some of the best players of Greece, along with players from abroad, such as ex-
NBAers
Dominique Wilkins and
Byron Scott, as well as European stars such as,
Dejan Bodiroga,
Nikos Galis,
Panagiotis Giannakis and
Stojan Vranković.
The basketball section of the club alone had a reported budget of €35 million in 2009. In 2011, Pavlos and his brother
Thanasis
Thanasis (Θανάσης) is a Greek given name, short for Athanasios (Αθανάσιος), which can mean "eternal life" or "immortal".
Notable people with the name Thanasis or Thanassis include:
*Thanasis Antetokounmpo (born 1992), Greek baske ...
, won the
EuroLeague Club Executive of the Year Award. In 2012, Pavlos' son,
Dimitris Giannakopoulos, took over control of
Panathinaikos B.C.
In 2015, the indoor hall of
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium was named "Pavlos Giannakopoulos", in his honour.
Death
Giannakopoulos died at age 88 on 10 June 2018, the 47th anniversary of his first involvement with Panathinaikos and two days after his son was elected as the new president of
Panathinaikos A.C.
References
External links
Vianex WebsitePanathinaikos B.C. Website – Board of Directors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giannakopoulos, Pavlos
1929 births
2018 deaths
Greek businesspeople
Greek philanthropists
Panathinaikos A.O.
Panathinaikos B.C.
Panathinaikos B.C. presidents
Panathinaikos F.C.
Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff
Greek football chairmen and investors
Greek basketball chairmen and investors
Greek billionaires
People from Athens
20th-century philanthropists
Greek basketball executives and administrators