PERSONALITIES

Demosthenes Mitsis

Demosthenes Mitsis was born in 1848 in Lemythou where he lived for the first years of his life.  Later on and at a young age, he relocated to Larnaca along with his family where his father became occupied with the trade business.  In Larnaca he was given the opportunity of studying in the city's Mutual Teaching Method School for some time, receiving the equipment necessary to pursue further studies in the French college of Lebanon from which he graduated in 1867.
Afterwards he returns to Cyprus and is occupied with export trading to Alexandria where he finally settled in 1869.  There he created a Tanning / Leather - Dressing Industry, the operation of which he relocated to Cairo. 
Demosthenes Mitsis is included among the founders of the Greek Fraternity of Cypriots in Egypt, of which he was a Chairman (1901-1908) and a great benefactor.  He was greatly active educationally and philanthropically and contributed with large amounts to the support of various cities and communities in Cyprus such as Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol, Trikomo, as well as the Greek Community of Egypt.
In 1912 he raised a Trade School in Lemythou, granting a significant amount of money to it so that it can maintain itself using its own assets.
The Greek government awarded him the Silver Cross of the Knights of the Saviour's Order in 1923 as a token of appreciation for his remarkable educational and philanthropic deeds. 
Demosthenes Mitsis died in Cairo (August, 1923).  He was married to an Italian, Italia Lazari Francesca, and had no children. 

From the Document of Donation, Establishment and Operation of Mitsis Trade School.

1. The composition of the administrative board will include:
   • Three British, preferably occupying the positions of Chief Justice, First Secretary of the government, the District Attorney, the Chief Accountant, the Judge in the Supreme Court, the Governor of Limassol, the Governor of Nicosia, the president of the Limassol or Nicosia districts, and the Chief Inspector of Schools.
   • Two Cypriots, belonging to the Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus and preferably be Bishops, Priors, Members of the Parliament or District Court Judges.
   1. Three British, preferably occupying the positions of Chief Justice, First Secretary of the government, the District Attorney, the Chief Accountant, the Judge in the Supreme Court, the Governor of Limassol, the Governor of Nicosia, the president of the Limassol or Nicosia districts, and the Chief Inspector of Schools.
   2. Two Cypriots, belonging to the Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus and preferably be Bishops, Priors, Members of the Parliament or District Court Judges.
   3. The School will only receive male students (boys).  The purpose of the school is to provide solid training in trade.  The general language of studying and instructing will be English.  The Greek language and the Greek educational subjects will be an obligatory part of the teaching program and will be taught in Greek.  The School will always offer accommodations for the teaching of the French and Arabic language.
   4. If Cyprus ever unites with Greece, the school and its entire property will come under the complete control and administration of the Greek Government.  If Cyprus comes under the complete jurisdiction of Britain, the administration of the School will come under the general control of the person responsible for the administration of Cyprus.  If ever the administration of the island is relinquished to the Ottoman government or any government other than the Greek or British, the Consul or another official representative of the British Government in Cyprus will control the School's administration. 

    

   Leventis Family (Salome, Charalambos, Giorgos, Anastasis, Christos a.o)

   Salome Leventis was the mother of the Leventis family. She was a competent woman, energetic, hardworking and lovable. She was not very tall; she was very beautiful and was characterized by her blue eyes. She was born in Lemythou in 1878, the year when Cyprus went under English domination. During the liberation struggle, an English patrol officer asked her when she was born. Salome replied: “we came here together and I hope that we leave together”.

   She got married with a teacher named Neoklis at the beginning of the century. He came from Petra and taught at the school of Lemythou. Neoklis became a priest later and that is why their children’s surname was “Papaneokleous” (papas=priest) before they used their mother’s surname, namely “Leventis”. The couple had four sons while living in Lemyhtou-Charalambos, Giorgos, Anastasis and Christos. After Christos’s birth, Levetis family moved to Petra. The rest of the children, namely Katerina, Kalliopi, Evagoras and Costas were born there.
   
   Salome gave the surname Leventis to her family in a rather peculiar way: there were two brothers in Lemythou, Christodoulos and Constantinos. When the Orlofs revolted in Greece in 1770, the brothers wanted to go there and fight against the Turks. When the movement failed, the two brothers came back to Cyprus and were welcomed with honors in Lemythou. The priest and the teacher of the village, namely Papaneoklis waited for them at the entrance of the village and recited speeches for them. The teacher said: “Welcome leventes (=brave men)”. From that moment on “leventis” became their surname. Salome belonged in the same family.

   When talking about the Leventis family, one can not ignore the third child of Papaneokli and Salome, namely Anastasis. The life of Anastasis Leventis was indeed adventurous. When he was little, during English domination, he met an equitant English soldier. The horse kicked him in the ditch. When he managed to get up he told the soldier: “one day I will be so high that no one will be able to kick me”. And that is what happened.

   Anastasis went to Mitsi School in Lemythou where he learned how to speak English, French and how to deal with trade issues. Both Anastasis and Christos loved Lemythou, because they went to Mitsi School.
   They both considered that they gained necessary and useful knowledge for their future activities. Anastasis was an exquisite man, bright, disciplined, and perceptive with administrative skills. He was born to be a leader. No one ever doubted him because everyone trusted him. His dream was to go abroad so as to help Cyprus. One day he left Cyprus with twenty five pounds that his mother gave him; twenty five pounds was a considerable amount of money for that time.

   He first went to Egypt. His vision however, was unexploited Africa. To reach Africa he had to travel via Marseille. However, someone stole his twenty five pounds and Anastasis was quite upset. While sitting near the road, a Greek businessman approached Anastasis and asked him to work for him. A while after that, Anastasis dream to go to Africa came true. In 1920 he went to Nigeria and started to work there. In 1922 he left for Cyprus because his brother Charalambos was really ill.
   When he returned to Africa he went to Gold Coast and at the age of 29 he was appointed General Director in a commercial company.  In 1926 he returned to Cyprus so as to witness the marriage of his sister Katerina to Yiannis Myrianthoussis.

   In 1934 he met a woman from Greece, Fofi Kaliafa from North Epirus, who was born and raised in Manchester (England). In 1937 he founds his own company, namely A.G. Leventis & Co. Ltd. in Accra. This company remained as such until his death in 1976.

   His company was rapidly established in the market and therefore it grew and developed in a short time. All his brothers worked for the company except Giorgos, who was staying in Egypt. He was a distinguished member of the Greek community in Egypt as he was really active. The company needed more working hands and that is why close relatives came from Cyprus and Greece went to work for it. The company also had offices in England, France, Egypt and Cyprus. The company has expanded its activities in several cities in Nigeria. AG. Leventis developed different activities ranging from general mercantile, land development and estates, hotels and car dealerships, industries a.o. 

   Christos role in the company was of vital importance. In 1942 Christos opened new possibilities for the company. He went to Lagos and broadened the company’s activities. His personal achievement was to establish the company across Nigeria.
   Euagoras’s contribution was valuable for the company’s outlier in Kumasi, since he studied engineering in Belgium.

   Anastasis Leventis role in Ghana was again of vital importance. The first leader of the anti-colony movement, J.B. Danquath asked him to bring young Nokruma in 1947 back from London to lead the Accra independence struggle. Anastasis supported Nokruma until his death and served as ambassador of Ghana in France.

   Both Anastasis and Christos were socially active and were really close to the people of Nigeria. Leventis family became more famous as time went by and especially Christos who had a unique way to approach people and was really loved by Europeans and Nigerians. In north Nigeria he was known as “the trade man”.

   Anastasis’s actions regarding Cyprus might not be possible to mention. He believed in the cultural power of Hellenism since he was a child. He served as the ambassador of Cyprus for UNESCO. He managed to prolong the interest for culture and civilization through the A.G. Leventis Foundation, via his will. It is through this foundation that many programs promoting cultural heritage, tradition and art, education, artistic and charity activities, researches, students, writers, poets a.o. are funded.

   The name Leventis is common in Lemythou. The Leventio Primary School was built in memory of Yiannis and Malvina, close relatives of the family who were lost after an aeroplane crash in 1951. The Lemythou water-supply system was donated in the loving memory of Salome Leventis. What is more, Leventis family funded projects related to the church in Lemythou and the chapel of Saint Theodore that was announced treasury of Byzantine icons. The most recent project funded by Leventis Foundation in Lemyhtou was the renovation and restoration of the Leventis family house. It will be used as a museum of folk art and tradition. This project is still under construction.