George Varoufakis, father of Yanis Varoufakis, the head of MP25, has passed away at the age of 96. His funeral will take place on Friday 1 October.

George Varoufakis was born in Cairo, Egypt, in June 1925, where he completed his secondary schooling at the Abeteion School. After graduation he worked in a branch of a Greek bank in Cairo before coming to Athens in 1946 to enrol in the Chemistry Department of the University of Athens.

Shortly before the second civil war broke out, after he protested to the Dean's Office on behalf of his student association against the increase in tuition fees, he was arrested by the Security. Refusing to sign the then famous «declaration», he was imprisoned in Athens and later exiled to Makronissos. There he had the good fortune to sympathize with comrades such as Yannis Ritsos, Manolis Katrakis and Spyros Linardatos. After Makronissos he was exiled to Ikaria, before finally returning to Athens and the University of Athens where he met his life partner Eleni Tsangarakis. Eleni was the first student in the history of the Chemistry Department who would later work as a biochemist, become active in the feminist movement and be elected for many years as a municipal councillor (including a term as Deputy Mayor) of Palaio Faliro. With Eleni, he had two children - Giannis and Trissygeni.

After many difficulties, due to his «social background», George Varoufakis began his professional career in 1954 at «Chalyvourgiki» where, in 1961, he took up the position of Director of the Quality Control Department. After his retirement in 2003, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of «Chalyvourgiki», a position he held until January 2020.

In 1959, alongside his demanding position at the «Steelworks», he began to systematically study the erosion of the ancient bronze statues of Kouros and Artemis, which are now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus. Those metallurgical and experimental studies evolved into a doctoral thesis which he successfully defended at the University of Athens, which awarded him his doctorate in 1965.

Since 1965, and with the collaboration of leading archaeologists, he continued to study ancient metallic finds and to publish original work in Greece and abroad. Among them were:

The Mycenaean metal findings of Perati - in collaboration with Professor and member of the Academy of Athens Spyros Iakovidis

The steel spears of the Geometric era - in collaboration with the academic C. Mylonas

The study of inscriptions around metal quality control and the authenticity of silver Attic coins of the 4th century BC - with Ronald Stroud

The study of the famous crater of Dervenius - in the study of which he collaborated with Manolis Andronikos - and which he presented at the British Museum

45 figurines of the Minoan era of Crete

Raw materials for the casting of figurines in Kythera

In 1979 George Varoufakis submitted a thesis on hyphyesis entitled «Chemical and metallurgical research on 19 iron tripod legs of the Geometric period», which resulted in the award of the title of Professor and later of Honorary Assistant Professor of the University of Athens.

His study of the iron links of the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, which connect the large marble volumes of the cornice and the base of the temples, is important. That study was published in the Journal of Historical Metallurgy Society. This research was continued with the iron links of the temple of the Aegean Trapeza and the Epicurean Apollo in an attempt to assess the evolution of technology from Archaic to Classical times. Furthermore, at the invitation of the scientific societies there, he presented many research papers, including in Cyprus, the British Museum in London, Prague, Zurich, Sicily, the USA, etc.

For a decade George Varoufakis was also President of the Hellenic Organization for Standardization (ELOT). During his tenure ELOT was upgraded, expanding its activities in the industrial and economic life of the country. At the end of his term of office, he was awarded the title of Honorary President of ELOT.

Alongside his tenure at ELOT, in 1988 he was elected president of the Hellenic Archaeometric Society (EAE), which focuses on the study of ancient technology. Combining his tenure at ELOT and the EAE, he studied the history of quality control in antiquity. In 1996 he published a book on the subject entitled «Ancient Greece and Quality: The history and control of materials that marked Greek civilization» (Aeolos Publications). The book was also published in English in 1999. In 2005, he published a sequel to that book in the form of a new book entitled «The History of Iron from Homer to Xenophon: Iron Finds and Ancient Greek Literature through the Eyes of a Metallurgist», (Hellenic Letters Publications).

When a few years ago he was asked by a foreign visitor to sum up his life, he replied, «I am a boy from Cairo who was destined to learn to love life, man and science on Macronissos.»

His funeral will be held on Friday morning, October 1.