Eddie Kulukundis

Sir Elias George Kulukundis OBE (born 1932 in London), known as Sir Eddie Kulukundis, is a member of a Greek shipping family whose professional career has spanned shipping and the theatre.

As a philanthropist he has donated more than £2 million to British athletics and theatre groups. Kulukundis was made an OBE for services to British sport in 1993, and knighted for services to British theatre and sport in 1998. He is married to the British actress Susan Hampshire.

Elias George Kulukundis was born in 1932 at 26 Warbeck Street W2, the son of a Greek shipping family who had made their home in London. His parents moved to New York City when he was eight. Kulukundis was not an active sportsman and took the role of statistician, keeping score. He graduated from Salisbury School in 1950, and is now an Emeritus Trustee of the school. He changed his name by deed poll to Eddie Kulukundis on 23 September 1993.

The Kulukundis and Mavroleon families had formed the shipping company London & Overseas Freighters (LOF) in 1948. Kulukundis entered the shipping industry by working on tramp steamers in the Mediterranean. After the death of his uncle John Kulukundis in September 1978, Kulukundis joined the LOF board. The company suffered mounting losses, and after it had sold all but two of its ships and all shoreside assets, he resigned on 11 December 1985.

He rejoined the board of the much reduced company in 1988 following the death of company president Manuel Kulukundis, and also the death of his nephew, Minas Kulukundis, in the Lockerbie air disaster while flying to attend the funeral of his uncle and godfather Captain Nicholas Kulukundis. On 1 November 1997 LOF was sold to Frontline Freighters AB of Sweden and Kulukundis resigned from the board. He still holds positions with family company Company Rethymnis and Kulukundis Ltd, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998.

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