Page 14 - BLUE INK 2019

Past Perfect

The famIly sTIll shInes brIghT for ITs

enTrepreneurIal spIrIT, vIsIon for hospITalITy,
Our Roots love for The arTs anD CharITable

ConTrIbuTIon.

Cretan Ingenuity & Drive

GeorGe MaMidakis was born in a small village called Anoskeli, near the town of
Kissamos in western Crete. He trained as a surveyor and began his professional career in the
Topographical Service. During the German occupation, he was a member of the Resistance.
His first business venture involved the production of rose oil. A few years later, his intelli-
gent and bold approach opened the door to communication and economic cooperation with
Russia in the oil sector. Mamidakis & Co was founded in 1955 and was very active in the
field of bunkering (refueling seagoing vessels). With the creation of 540 service stations, it
distributed petroleum products throughout Greece. Until 1983, it supplied Greece’s state
refineries with crude oil, using its own tankers. In 1973, the Mamidakis Group imported La-
da cars into Greece for the first time. Far-sighted and with a deep love for Crete, the island
of his birth, George Mamidakis bought the Minos Beach Hotel at Mirabello Bay in 1974. He
later bought two other hotel complexes. A multifaceted personality, George stood out for
his values, decency, gallantry, acumen, honesty and inexhaustible humor. Aristea Mamidakis
was born in Chania and was the fifth child of hoteliers Gregory and Maria Chalkiadakis. As a
wife, Aristea Mamidakis was never in the shadow of her husband George, but always by his
side. She worked with him closely and continued to work in their companies with the same
passion after his death. Strong but at the same time gentle, sweet and demanding, gener-
ous and practical, she instilled the values of family, morality and dynamic creativity in her
two daughters, who continued developing the Mamidakis businesses. In later life, she took
great pleasure in helping to raise her six grandchildren.

how The vIsIonary george mamIDakIs

anD The DynamIC arIsTea mamIDakIs laID

The founDaTIons for bluegr, sTIll run by
Moments in time, from top left: Aristea and George Mamidakis as a young couple
The famIly – TheIr DaughTer, gIna mamIDakIs. on their bicycle. George Mamidakis. Below, Aristea Mamidakis holding the couple’s two
daughters, Gina and Marilena.

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