The remarkable legacy of Costas Apostolidis
It’s been one week since the passing of Costas Apostolidis – a visionary entrepreneur, founder of industrial surge protection manufacturer Raycap and a generous philanthropist with an enduring impact on his hometown of Drama and beyond – and his death still has many Greeks reeling.
The atmosphere at the funeral on Monday at Athens’ First Cemetery was one of deep sorrow and numbness, as relatives, friends and notable public figures alike were in disbelief about the sudden loss of a man with abundant creativity and energy, and a pioneer that achieved countless accomplishments.
“If you try to say a lot for Costas Apostolidis, it will never be enough,” Antypas Karipoglou, a prominent lawyer from his northern Greek hometown tells Kathimerini. “I’d rather only say two words: a generous man.”
Born in Drama in 1948 to a family of migrants from the Pontus region, Apostolidis led a truly remarkable entrepreneurial journey. He managed to transform Raycap from a small regional firm employing three workers to a multinational titan with manufacturing facilities from Idaho to Munich and from Slovenia to Athens.
But beyond the monumental growth and rare scalability of his company – an even more impressive feat considering the fact that he was an entirely self-made entrepreneur – what particularly stands out in the legacy of Apostolidis is the omnipresent altruism he displayed throughout the 76 years of his life.
“For me, Costas is one of the most brilliant examples of a complete and holistic person,” Michalis Bodouroglou, who was also born in Drama, has been involved in the shipping industry for over 35 years and was a close friend of Apostolidis, tells Kathimerini. “He came from humble beginnings and he distinguished himself in many ways, not only through his work and innovative ideas. Together with his professional accomplishments, he constantly tried to embody what he always felt inside: a generosity, a sense of gratitude and reciprocity to his place of origin and the people who live there,” he adds.
Evidence of Apostolidis’ deep love for his hometown was the fact that, even after his company had grown to unprecedented heights, he chose to maintain the main factory in Drama, disregarding pressure from multiple advisors who insisted it made little financial sense to base operations in a remote and poor part of northern Greece. In doing so, Apostolidis offered employment opportunities to hundreds of locals, something that gave him “huge pleasure, pride and a real purpose in life,” according to those who knew him well.
“He had a truly magnetic way of leading this company, a combination of attentiveness and humility that I have never seen before,” says Sotiris, who has been working for Raycap’s Drama factory for more than a decade. “He knew every single worker on a first-name basis, he gave salaries that cannot compare to anything you’ll find in the industry, and he loved this factory as if it were his second home. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that he has done more for our city than all the mayors of the last 30 years combined,” he concludes with conviction.
Indeed, Apostolidis’ generosity went far beyond the way he led his company, expanding into various projects and developments he funded in Drama and elsewhere. “He was not satisfied with simply giving people jobs or financial assistance,” says Bodouroglou. “He showed his generosity in a practical and meaningful way, by doing things of quality and of permanent nature, and most importantly never with the goal of self-advertising” he emphasizes.
“We are talking about long-term projects and interventions with a substantial and long-term footprint for the city of Drama: from commissioning one of the most impressive architectural offices in the world to design the revamp of the city center, to completing the restoration of the Sandirvan Mosque, clearing it from the apartment buildings that were suffocating it, and establishing a partnership with the Benaki Museum so that important collections would be displayed there,” he adds.
It seems impossible to find a field which the Drama-born entrepreneur did not try to empower with his constant contributions. From enhancing policy research, as the biggest donor to Greece’s respected Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) think-tank, to funding the digitization of historical local newspaper Tharros, to making Drama a global destination for cinema as a valuable supporter of the city’s International Short Film Festival, Apostolidis did it all – while simultaneously remaining astonishingly introverted and humble.
“Most importantly, beyond all his accomplishments, he was a very modest person, a family man, with an incredible wife and an amazing daughter who I’m sure will continue to carry out her father’s visions,” Bodouroglou says.
It is because of this rare legacy of constant innovation and generosity, of a business spirit of unique extroversion but a kind-heartedness that always looked inwards, that Greece will be feeling the loss of Costas Apostolidis for some time to come.
