Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 17, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba 12 Winnipeg free press. Monday. March 17, 1975 Rich powerful talented drawn into Onassis orbit greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis died in a girls bos Piui saturday at the age of of. The following appreciation of his career appeared in the London weekly newspaper the observer by Colin Smith and David Tonge hearing rumours that Aristotle Socrates Onassis Lay dying a greek Law Stu Dent a communist who had participated in the Athens polytechnic uprising during november 1973, considerable sat i s f a c t i o n like Many Young aware Middle class greeks she hated him not just because of his Mil Lions but for what she regarded As a quite unnecessary collaboration with the colonels dictatorship. Her reaction was to an image that had changed subtly Over 20 years from Conte scary Buccaneer to some thing rather More sinister. In the 1950s the profile writers wrote mainly Friendly pieces about a Chunky almost cuddly millionaire who had been Clever enough to make a lot of Money without having to grind the faces of the poor. The political passions of the past decade seemed to be the one facet of a changing world that Onas Sis never properly under stood. His approach to poli tics had always been determinedly dilettante an apolitical survivor who could no More help switch ing to winning horses than the vicar of Bray. I have known Many regimes like yours and they always had three things in he once joked to dictator George Papadopoulos. No press Freedom no press Freedom and no press free at the time he was lending Papadopoulos a Seaside Villa just outside Athens which the sex dicta Tor and his family still occupied after the army had deposed him eight months before the collapse of the entire Junta. Favors alleged Montreal up Engi Neer Nat a n gains has accused the Quebec government of awarding millions of Dol Lars in contracts to a select list of engineering firms Loyal to the party in Power. It s pretty Well accepted you require adequate political connections to get these con tracts to be on the selected or. Gans said in an interview following publication of his report on the subject drafted for the Quebec order of engineers. Both the provincial and fed eral governments Bave a select list of engineering consultant firms to which they direct government contracts or. Gans said. He said a group of coun Sellors in Quebec Premier Rob Ert Bourassa s office carefully scrutinizes the province s Engi Neering consultant Arras before awarding contracts. The system is in total abuse. You have a select list of contracts. The system is based on favouritism and political connections. If some office is obtaining Large government contracts it is in their interest to retain that particular yet once it seemed the Only real problem facing Aristotle Onassis was persuading the world that he was a worthy spouse for Jackie Kennedy. When the wedding took place on oct. In the Little Chapel among the Cypress Trees on his Aegean Island of skor Pios much of the world s press portrayed his Bride As having replaced her murdered Prince charming with some sort of Gold plated Frog. One . Colum nist wrote that it was the worst insult to . Man Hood since Pearl and the society pages were not slow in pointing out that Jackie was reluctant to be photographed dancing with her new husband be cause she dwarfed him on the floor. Without his second marriage the life and death of the Man who once protested that he owned Only eighty per cent of the world s merchant shipping would have been measured in considerably fewer column inches. Which would have been a pity because marrying the world s most eligible widow Only underlined the essential mys Tery How did a squat often inelegant and largely self educated Man repeatedly magnetize the Beautiful the powerful and the talented who were often Rich themselves and to whom Mere degrees of wealth were about As Rele vant As the number of Angels who could dance on a pin the testimonials Are not hard to find. Rose Ken n e d y matriarch of the Kennedy clan wrote of him in her autobiography he was quietly companionable easy to talk with intelligent with a sense of humor and a fund of Good anecdotes to Tell. I like him. He was pleasant interesting and to take a greek term this impression was gained from a meeting she had with him several years before her son s assassination it did not change and she gave her unhesitating approval to his widow s remarriage. In a letter to his private Secretary sir John c o 1 v i 11 e written from Monte Carlo in the sum Mer of 1957, sir Winston Churchill wrote i met yesterday a Man called Onassis. He is a Man of friends of both Jackie Onassis and sir Winston All seem to agree that what he ultimately had to offer them both was an extremely pleasant form of seclusion. His own Island his yacht Christina after his daughter with nine state rooms each named after a greek Island Garbo stayed in the lesbos his fund to his women friends he was also extremely generous. He once gave Maria Callas an Oil Tanker a penance perhaps for his habit of falling asleep while she was sing ing. To Jackie he has Given More than her weight in jewels. In the first year t of their marriage they spend Over million. In his life my brother has loved three women his sister Theodora Garoufali is reported to have said. Tina his first wife Maria and Jackie and he still loves them. Unfortunately he is not a moslem or he would have married All Randolph Churchill introduced his father to on Assis at Monte Carlo and soon sir Winston was a regular passenger aboard the Christina on cruises to the Caribbean and the canaries. One of the things that pleased sir recalled an aide was that he did t take advantage of the Friendship it was a Long time before the press found out. He was gently deferent but it was t overdone. He was just extremely polite. Before a cruise started he used to Send us a list of the other passengers pro posed to see if they were appropriate. Nevertheless sometimes they were an unlikely mix. Once a Din Ner party consisted on Assis Churchill and Greta Garbo but i never found him to be a ladies Man. His idea of a woman s function was not one which would have appealed to women s lib at All. Like All greeks i think he Ultima Tely preferred male com Pany. He used to have Long conversations with sir win Ston about everything his tory the classics writing philosophy politics. In a curious Way he was a Cul tured Man but with great gaps like Many self educated Aristotle Onassis s Educa Tion ceased prematurely at 16, when he was swept up in the cataclysmic events of the Greco turkish War of 1922. He was born in Smyrna now Izmir Turkey on Jan. The first son of a wealthy tobacco dealer Socrates Onassis. At that time there were some Anatolian greeks the descendants of those lonians who started Colon izing the Asia minor Litto ral around 1000 by and later became part of the byzantine Empire. Most greek children were Given classical names to remind them of their roots. The turks like to claim that they always behaved Toler Antly towards the Large greek minority living among them. Certainly men like Socrates Onassis were much respected by the local turkish Community some of whom Bor rowed Money from him. However there were minor irritations. For instance during the second world War All the boys at Smyr n a s evangelical school attended by. Aristotle be cause his father approved of the English Public school lines on which it was run were ordered to replace their British style Caps with the turkish Fez. After the turkish defeat in the first world War the greek prime minister Venizelos attempted his vain glorious dream of recreating byzantium. For two fleeting years from 1920 to 1922, Smyrna was occupied by the Green army and its native greek Community Felt that they had seen the end of almost 400 years of turkish domination. At the evangelical school the boys were Back into English Caps. Aristotle s main interest at the time was water Polo in later years he liked to boast that at 14 he had been asked to swim in the greek National team although it was never made quite Clear whether he accepted the invitation. Then in August 1922, the turks bunder a t a t u r k counter attacked. The greek army was Defeated within 10 Days. The Battle Field Slaughter was Fol Lowed by the murder of thousands 6 f Anatolian greeks. It is estimated that greeks died and another became refugees in Greece. Understandably Aristotle Onassis to Tell Many stories about this period of his life. Strangely they tended to become less Matic As he got older per haps because he no longer Felt a Young Man s need to make an Impact. But with out doubt terrible things did happen to his family his father s brother Alex Ander was hanged by the turks uncles John and Basil were placed in internment Camps As were his step Mother and half Sisters his father was in jail in Smyrna daily expecting to face summary trial and execution. Aristotle and his grandmother were the Only ones remain ing in the family Home when a turkish general billeted himself on them and they were ordered to leave. It was then at 16, that Aristotle Onassis was first to demonstrate the prag Matic qualities that marked his dealings with authority for the rest of his life. Most of his contemporaries reared on Homer and matured on two dizzy years of Independence from the despised Turk might have dreamed As they packed their bags of stabbing the general in his sleep before being led to a Patriot s execution with an hellenic Farewell on their lips. Young Aristotle who spoke perfect turkish charmed the general into allowing his grandmother and himself to stay. He even accompanied him on what seemed a fruitless search for alcohol in the sacked town and because he also spoke Good English later did the same thing for the . Vice con sul. This was More successful and greeks who had not been Able to find any ouzo for the Turk found plenty for the Ameri can. The Diplomat gave his teen aged interpreter a bottle As commission which he duly presented to the turkish general. As a re Ward he received. A Mili tary pass which enabled him. To ignore the curfew and travel around town unhindered. Now single handed he set about rounding up and evacuating the family. But h e r e the facts become rather blurred and in Bis lifetime Onassis told so Many different versions of them that it is doubtful whether he even remembered which one was exactly Correct. But what is indisputable i s that by using his pass he was Able to get his father s burned out offices and Rescue a Large amount of Money from a fireproof Safe there. He then got his uncles step Mother and Sisters to Greece returned to Smyrna and by talking to the right people and handing out a great Deal of Money managed to get his father released from jail. The University of Winnipeg invites you and your friends to the t 1975 r. H. G. Bonnycastle lecture series second lecture tuesday March William Teron president Central mortgage and housing corporation Ottawa the growth of cities the lecture will be held at . In theatre a room 447, Manitoba Hall. Tod Noum Yoi Cove bottle Deposit up 5 cents Toronto up the de posit on empty Beer bottles and cans in Ontario will in crease to five cents each Mon Day Brewers retail announced Here. Persons who purchased Beer Mai Par it Usu at the old rate of two cents a do their Best to re elect the i bottle and 15 cents a dozen for party in Power. They ask their employees would you be Good enough to work at election time for the or. Gans whose report was submitted confidentially to the province s order of engineers last August said engineers will set up a committee to evaluate the report and make recommendations to the provincial government. Meanwhile Raymond mail Loux Quebec minister of Public works and Supply said connections Between engineering consultant firms and provincial political parties influence distribution of government con tracts. Or. Mailloux said it is wide spread practice among these firms to have partners connected with All the political parties. He said although his depart ment practices discretion in awarding the contracts it does cans will receive the new re fund when returning empties. Because of the increase in the refund Price the Price of a 24-bottle Case of Beer will in crease to from and 12 cans will Cost up from the two cent Deposit on bottles has been in effect since 1959. Before that it was 60 cents for two dozen bottles. Large 22-ounce bottles sold primarily in Eastern Ontario will carry a Deposit of 10 cents a bottle. C. D. Muir president of Brewers retail said in a statement Friday that the higher Deposit is a positive step to encourage Consumers to return empties for Cash re he said about 67.9 million bottles Are not returned annually out of about 1.7 billion bottles sold. This is an average of 1.3 not Call publicly for bids. He denied however that contracts Are awarded systematically on the basis of political connection adding that competence the Region where the work is to be done and the project size also Are considered factors. Application approved Boston a the Board of governors of the Federal Reserve system has approved the application of new eng land merchants co., inc., to acquire the fall River National Bank. The acquisition is expected to occur after a 30 Day waiting period during which the department of jus Tice has the comment. Million bottles per week which Are lost and end up As litter or he said. Environment minister Wil Liam Newman applauded the move saying it shows Brewers warehousing co. Ltd., operators of Brewers re Tail is willing to assist the government in its anti litter Campaign and our efforts to encourage the use of return Able the minister warned the soft drink Industry thursday to Start using More refillable containers or face legislation forc ing them to do so. 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