Sir Alec Issigonis
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Sir Alec Issigonis CBE FRS RDI |
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| Native name | Αλέξανδρος Αρνόλδος Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης |
| Born |
Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis 18 November 1906 Smyrna, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 2 October 1988 (aged 81) Edgbaston, Birmingham, England |
| Occupation | Designer |
Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS, RDI (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Αρνόλδος Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης Alexandros Arnoldos Konstantinos Isigonis; 18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek designer of cars, widely noted for the groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959.
Issigonis was born in 1906 into the Greek cosmopolitan community of the Greek port Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey) in Asia Minor. The son of Greek and German parents, he inherited British citizenship via his father and developed very "English" attitudes. His grandfather Demosthenis migrated to Smyrna from Paros in Greece in the 1830s and through the work he did for the British-built Smyrna-Aydın Railway managed to acquire British nationality. Demosthenis's son (Alec's father) Constantine Issigonis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης), was born, with British nationality, in Smyrna in 1872. Constantine studied in England. Alec's mother, Hulda Prokopp, could trace her origins back to Württemberg (now part of Germany). It was through his mother's kinships that Issigonis was a first cousin once removed to BMW (and more briefly Volkswagen) director Bernd Pischetsrieder.
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