Vardis Vardinogiannis: Remembering the Cretan Who Led Motor Oil Hellas

by · Greek City Times

Two years after his death on 12 November 2024, Vardis Vardinogiannis remains one of the defining figures of Greek business, shipping and philanthropy. The Cretan naval officer who led Motor Oil Hellas for more than half a century was known for his sharp mind, his direct way of speaking and his devotion to Greece and his family.

Here are the key moments in his life.

Episkopi, Rethymno and the Navy

Vardinogiannis was born on 4 December 1933 in Episkopi, Rethymno, Crete, into a farming family originally from Agios Ioannis in Sfakia. He was a schoolboy during the German occupation of Crete. After the war he moved to Athens and entered the Hellenic Naval Academy, graduating as a naval officer in 1955.

In 1961 he married Marianna Bournaki. The couple had five children, including Giannis Vardinogiannis, who now leads Motor Oil.

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Opposing the junta

When the colonels seized power in 1967, Vardinogiannis refused to cooperate with the dictatorship. He was forced out of the Navy and sent into exile on a remote island. After his release he turned fully to the family’s business interests.

Building Motor Oil Hellas

The Vardinogiannis brothers were already active in shipping in the 1960s. In 1966 their tanker Ioanna V broke the UN-imposed, British-enforced oil embargo on Rhodesia by bringing oil to the port of Beira.

Motor Oil Hellas was founded in 1970, and Vardis Vardinogiannis served as its chairman and managing director from 1972 until his death. Its refinery at Agioi Theodoroi, near Corinth, became the heart of the business, and a partnership with Saudi Aramco in the 1990s strengthened the group further. The family’s interests came to span oil, shipping, banking, real estate, hotels and media. In 1989 he was one of the founding partners of Mega, Greece’s first private television channel.

Surviving a 17N attack

On 20 November 1990 the terrorist group 17 November tried to kill him with rockets as he was driven through northern Athens. He escaped unharmed because he was travelling in a heavily armoured car.

Philanthropy and the Kennedy connection

With his wife Marianna, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, he backed children’s cancer care in Greece, including the Elpida association, whose children’s oncology unit opened in Athens in 2010. Marianna died on 24 July 2023, aged 86. Read more about Marianna Vardinogiannis’s philanthropic legacy.

The couple were among the founders of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Leadership Council, and the family’s friendship with the Kennedys was well known. Rory Kennedy married at the Vardinogiannis home in Ekali, and her sister Courtney’s 1993 wedding was held aboard the family yacht Varmar.

Panathinaikos and the family

The family is also closely tied to Panathinaikos. His younger brother George Vardinogiannis was president of the football club from 1979 to 2000. George died on 16 October 2026, nearly two years after Vardis. Read our report on George Vardinogiannis’s death.

His death and legacy

Vardis Vardinogiannis died at his home in Ekali on 12 November 2024, aged 90 (our report from the day). A year later, Greece paid tribute to him at a memorial event in Athens. Motor Oil, now led by his son Giannis, remains one of Greece’s biggest companies.

ERT News, https://www.ertnews.gr/eidiseis/pethane-o-giorgos-vardinogiannis/

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