Media veteran Fydanidis dies
Veteran journalist Serafeim Fydanidis died in Athens on Thursday due to complications following heart surgery, the management of the capital’s Ippokrateio Hospital said. He was 77.
Fydanidis served as the director of the Eleftherotypia daily from 1976 to 2007, after a stint at Ethnos and later at Apogevmatini in the years of the dictatorship where he was promoted to editor-in-chief. In 1987 he also took charge of Eleftherotypia on Sunday. After leaving the newspaper in 2007, he worked as a talk show host on state television. Fydanidis, one of the most respected analysts of Greek politics, recently published a book on his 31 years at the helm of Eleftherotypia.
In a statement Friday, deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos described Fydanidis as an “emblematic figure of the press in the post-dictatorship era.” The leftist opposition SYRIZA party stated that Fydanidis had “opened up new paths and was a point of reference for the media.” Other political parties also expressed sadness over his death.
His funeral takes place today at the First Cemetery of Athens.
