Athina Mary "Tina" Onassis Niarchos (; , ; 19 March 1929 – 10 October 1974) was an English-born Greek-French socialite and shipping heiress, the second daughter of the

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

shipping magnate Stavros Livanos and Arietta Zafirakis. She was known best as the first wife of

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; , ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975) was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was marri ...

, but she later married her older sister Eugenia's widower and Greek shipping tycoon,

Stavros Niarchos Stavros Spyrou Niarchos (, ; 3 July 1909 – 15 April 1996) was a Greek billionaire shipping tycoon. Starting in 1952, he had the world's biggest supertankers built for his fleet. Propelled by both the Suez Crisis and increasing demand for oil, ...

, who was her first husband Onassis's arch-rival. She was also the elder sister of George Stavros Livanos.

Marriages and family

She was married three times. Her husbands were: #

(28 December 1946 – 1960); with him she had two children, Alexander Onassis (1948–1973) and

Christina Onassis Christina Onassis (; 11 December 1950 – 19 November 1988) was a Greek-Argentine businesswoman, socialite and heiress to the Onassis fortune. She was the only daughter of Aristotle Onassis and Athina Mary "Tina" Livanos. Early life and family ...

(1950–1988). She divorced him upon her discovering that he was having an affair with the opera singer

Maria Callas Maria Callas (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sophia Kalogeropoulos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised ...

. # John Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford (23 October 1961 – March 1971), later 11th Duke of Marlborough. #

(21 October 1971 – 1974), her sister Eugenia's widower. After her divorce from Aristotle Onassis, she resumed using her maiden name, Livanos, until her marriage to Spencer-Churchill. Her son with Onassis, Alexander Onassis, died at the age of 24 on 23 January 1973, as a result of injuries sustained a day earlier during an airplane crash in Athens."Mr Aristotle Onassis.", ''The Times'', London, 17 March 1975, p. 14 Athina Niarchos died on 10 October 1974 in the Hôtel de Chanaleilles, the Parisian mansion that she shared with her husband. Her death was officially ruled by pathologists as having resulted from an acute

edema Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue (biology), tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. S ...

of the lung, but has also been attributed to her suffering a drug overdose. She was buried next to her sister at the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. Her daughter, Christina Onassis, sued Stavros Niarchos, her mother's widower, for her mother's estimated US$250 million (in 1974 dollars) estate, claiming the marriage should be annulled by Greek law. Christina later withdrew the lawsuit and Niarchos returned all of his wife's money as well as her jewelry, artwork and other personal effects to Christina. Her only living descendant is her namesake granddaughter,

Athina Onassis Athina Hélène Onassis (; born Athina Hélène Roussel (), 29 January 1985) is a French-Greek heiress and equestrian, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and the only child of Aristotle's daughter Chris ...

, Christina's daughter.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niarchos, Tina Onassis 1929 births 1974 deaths

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census. The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...

British expatriates in France English expatriates in the United States Drug-related deaths in France Greek socialites Livanos family Niarchos family Onassis family Tina