Dimitrios Negrepontis (; 25 March 1915 – June 1996), also Dimitrios Ioannis Negroponte or Dimitri John Negroponte, was the first-ever Greek to participate in the winter Olympics as an

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

. Known today for not saluting Hitler, he later became a successful shipping magnate.

Early life

Negrepontis was born 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 on 25 March 1915 coming from Greek diaspora and the Negroponte family of the island of

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

. He raised in

Klosters Klosters is a Switzerland, Swiss village in the Prättigau, politically part of the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of Klosters-Serneus, which belongs to the political district Prättigau/Davos Region, Prättigau/Davos in the Cantons o ...

and

Davos, Switzerland Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian Al ...

Career

As a Greek Olympian, he carried the flag into the stadium in 1936. He did not salute Hitler. He competed in the men's combined event at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nazi Ger ...

Personal life

Negrepontis was married to Catherine Coumantaros (1917–2000), who ran the Friends of Greece shop at 52

East 57th Street 57th Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan, one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the borough's grid. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided into its east and west sections at ...

. Together, they lived in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

and were the parents of four sons: *

John Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (; born July 21, 1939) is an American diplomat. In 2018, he was a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Shapi ...

(b. 1939), a diplomat who was the first-ever

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

and former

Deputy Secretary of State The deputy secretary of state of the United States is the principal deputy to the secretary of state. If the secretary of state resigns or dies, the deputy secretary of state becomes acting secretary of state until the president nominates and the ...

of the United States. * George Negroponte, who served as President of the

Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a museum and a nonprofit exhibition space in Manhattan, New York City, that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of dr ...

from 2002 to 2007. *

Michel Negroponte Michel Negroponte is an American producer and director. Biography Negroponte was born to Catherine Coumantaros and Dimitrios Negrepontis, a Greek shipping magnate, alpine skier and member of the Negroponte family, and grew up in New York City' ...

, an Emmy Award winning filmmaker. *

Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte (born December 1, 1943) is a Greek American architect. He is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Negroponte ...

(b. 1943), an architect who founded the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

's Media Lab and of the One Laptop per Child project. Negrepontis died in London in June 1996.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Negrepontis, Dimitrios 1915 births 1996 deaths Greek male alpine skiers Greek male cross-country skiers Olympic alpine skiers for Greece Olympic cross-country skiers for Greece Alpine skiers at the 1936 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1936 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Lausanne Skiers from the canton of Vaud Greek expatriates in Switzerland Skiers from Davos 20th-century Greek sportsmen