Pericles Panagopoulos, the founder of companies that made a mark on passenger and dry bulk shipping, died in Athens early this morning.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of our chairman, Pericles S Panagopoulos, who passed away today," his company, Magna Marine, said in a statement. He was 83 years old.
The Athens-born entrepreneur studied business and economics in Greece, Switzerland and England.
He was attracted very soon to shipping, working at young age at both cargo and passenger shipping firms.
The group of companies Panagopoulos founded in 1971 would be active in both sectors. He started out with Royal Cruise Line, a California-based cruise outfit.
Panagopoulos sold that firm to Norway's Kloster group in 1989, only to turn his attention to the ferry business three years later.
His Athens-listed company Attica Enterprises and subsidiary Superfast Ferries became household names in passenger shipping in Greek and Adriatic waters, expanding as far afield as the Baltic and the North Sea.
Panagopoulos sold his interest in the Attica Group in 2007 to Greek investment company Marfin Investment.
His shipping interests since focused on Athens-based dry bulk player Magna Marine, which he founded in 1990.
Panagopoulos was abducted by kidnappers in 2009. His family paid ransom to have him released.
Panagopoulos, 73 at the time, spent about a week in captivity. About a dozen people were involved in the kidnapping and they were eventually caught and convicted.
The ransom, however, rumoured to have been about €30m ($34m), was never recovered.
