Thanasis Laskaridis is a Greek shipowner and businessman based in the United Kingdom. He is the president and CEO of Lavinia Corporation. He is also founder of the , The People's Trust in Greece, and co-founder of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. He has six children.
During the mid-'70s he started his career in shipping by taking control of the small family fishing company along with his brother, Panos. The two brothers are the majority shareholders of Lavinia Corporation, a shipping group holding company that controls Laskaridis Shipping, an Athens-based management company founded in 1977 which operates reefer ships, petrol tankers, dry bulk carriers, ship repair facilities, and marine terminals. His business activities also span across the hospitality, real estate, and airline industries, and other enterprises.
Charity and donations
In 1993, the Laskaridis brothers founded Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation in memory of their mother. The foundation actively supports cultural and educational projects in Greece. Laskaridis and his brother have donated to numerous causes such as the Hellenic Coast Guard, the Greek navy, the Union of Greek Shipowners' charitable trust, fresh water supply projects for refugees in northern Greece and a number of Greek charitable organisations engaged with the wellbeing of children in need. Laskaridis has also donated to the London School of Economics in support of the Hellenic Observatory, where he sits on the Advisory Board. In 2014, he financed with €1.5 million the restoration of Syntagma Square, the central square of Athens that had been damaged during riots and vandalism in previous years. The mayor of Athens, Giorgos Kaminis, unveiled a plaque in his honour in September 2018, for Laskaridis' contribution to the square. Thanasis Laskaridis is also the founder of The People's Trust in Greece, a charitable trust dedicated to small grants for startup companies and general charity. For his donations to the Greek Navy and coast guard, Laskaridis has been awarded by the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy and the Hellenic Coast Guard. He is also an honorary member of the latter organisation. In 2016, Thanasis Laskaridis founded the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, a non-profit organisation which aims to build partnerships and implement programmes that focus on the environment and education in Greece. As part of these efforts, in 2019 the MV Typhoon, a former platform supply vessel that was converted into a special purpose ship, began operations in the Greek seas with the aim of contributing to the large scale clean-up of the coastline, as well as research of coastal and in-water marine pollution in cooperation with universities and research institutions.
