Nikolaos Thyssen Theodosiadis: The Giant is gone, his legacy remains

Death is the pinnacle of the perfection of the rhythm of quality life. The rhythm of the changes of species. It is the constituent from which we statesman impartially and objectively to measure the people of a peculiar person, his contribution, the value of his beingness successful this ephemeral life.

All radical are calved with specific gifts, virtues and values.

All radical are exclusive, each with their ain special characteristics, successful their ain way of speaking, walking, writing, thinking and appreciating the world astir them.

All radical person their ain value; from the elemental household antheral who, with a myriad of sufferings, raises his children with prudence and morality, successful concern with his wife, to the 1 who preferred to unrecorded alone, participating successful a choir, oregon blowing retired candles successful a distant church. Everyone has their value, including the unjust, the impious and the lawbreakers.

However, it is definite that some radical successful the diachronic past of antheral person stood out, distinguished themselves and with their dynamic presence, contributed to the betterment of quality life.

These individuals are pillars of quality history, strongholds and possibly sources of notation successful the improvement of societies.

Some radical pledged to service the innovative, the authentic, the genuine, successful bid to lend to the alteration of our lives. Some took attraction to service the interests of the people, to germinate into ministers of the people, they offered to the commons, they strengthened their society morally and financially, successful bid to lighten quality toil, so that there would beryllium a society with morals and humanity.

Some, connected the different hand, were endowed with gifts that had each of the above. These were precocious towers to beryllium imitated oregon to beryllium often mentioned and perpetually praised. They were honoured by the society they lived successful and for which they worked. They are rightly recognized by quality history, which is perpetually evolving and evaluating.

This class includes radical who acted arsenic businessmen and benefactors, arsenic just judges and evaluators, radical who respected wealth, but ne'er worshipped and served it. For them, wealth should service the idea, and not the thought the wealth. Wealth was not an extremity successful itself for them, but the means, the tool to connection prime of beingness to each those who worked and suffered adjacent to them, and of people to their contiguous household environment.

On the time of Orthodox Easter, connected Sunday morning, while successful some parts of Australia the faithful were returning to their homes with the Light of the Resurrection and blessing their homes, the venerable husband, household man, businessman and philanthropist, Nikolaos Thyssen (Theodosiadis) OAM, who is known passim the continent of Oceania arsenic “Mr. Patra Orange”, abandoned this beingness astatine the property of ninety-one.

The precocious Nikolaos leaves down a affluent bequest of achievements and innovations that person improved the prime of beingness of radical worldwide.

Nick Thyssen was 1 of the astir inventive figures of the Greek Diaspora, a fig of a genuinely genius entrepreneur with pioneering ideas and innovative concepts that radically and profoundly changed specific aspects of the planetary nutrient industry.

A workplace lad from Valimitika, Aigialeia with twenty pounds of pouch wealth from his brother, with his wife, Maureen, by his side, caused a planetary gyration successful the accumulation of earthy juices, caller effect salads and soups, when until then the planetary nutrient manufacture relied connected cooked effect compotes and tin cans with concentrated and dried foodstuff pulverization with plentifulness of preservatives.

The astir important happening astir Nick Thyssen’s enactment and triumphant improvement is that this businessman did not execute greatness by copying others, helium was not led to the triumph of success, having imitated the success of others.

Most importantly, helium ne'er walked connected the footsteps and paths that some thought of oregon others tried archetypal and succeeded.

Nick Thyssen is the one, the lone one, the innovator, the inventive, the antheral who thought, orchestrated and implemented his ain ideas, his ain machines, his ain inventions and reached success with struggles, often with large fiscal losses.

The adjacent awesome happening astir Nick Thyssen is that money, nett were not an extremity successful themselves for him, that is, helium did not conscionable work to win.

He worked for the success of his ideas, helium toiled to taste the joyousness of daring the new, and helium succeeded.

He himself often confessed that helium mislaid a batch of wealth with his bold and innovative ideas, with his improvisations.

The large happening is that Nick Thyssen ne'er felt συγνώμη for the wealth helium lost. But helium was bittersweet and wounded due to the fact that his extremity did not succeed.

That’s why helium ever advised: “don’t stop, don’t beryllium afraid, when you lose. You person to beryllium courageous again, get backmost up, consciousness strong adjacent when you lose.”

The three children of Nikos and Maureen Thyssen, Eleni, Rebecca and Adam with their archetypal three grandchildren. Photo: Supplied

Nick Thyssen will spell down successful the past of the Australian foodstuff and nutrient manufacture due to the fact that helium founded, organised, developed and spread some successful Australia and the remainder of the world, for the archetypal time, the industrialisation of earthy citrus juice.

He was besides the antheral who invented and enriched the markets with caller effect crockery and soup varieties successful special cardboard boxes that ensured longevity. The products of the companies helium created from the celebrated and historical Patra Orange Juice, Original Juice Company, Ready Cut Company, Easy Cheff, Procal and astatine slightest twenty different companies done which helium attempted his innovative program, yesterday and today are successful the showcases of supermarkets, conscionable the needs of hospitals, service and sports infrastructure.

The immense but unseen publication of Nick Thyssen is that with his innovative ideas helium improved the regular beingness of the citizen, gave the accidental to thousands of citizens each time to bask a earthy foodstuff and not a canned nutrient during a interruption from work, talking to their colleagues, oregon to bask a caller effect crockery for their lunch, oregon to edifice to a soup for their dinner, not canned soup, but freshly cooked soup successful hospitals and barracks and of people successful their households.

For maine and my wife arsenic well arsenic for galore different people, Nikolaos Thyssen, with the support of his wife, Maureen, has been a member and friend, a valuable state and supporter. He entrusted maine with his biography, helium spoke to maine from the heart, with courageousness and a weight of responsibility, arsenic helium did with his children and his closest associates.

In caller years, our lives person been inseparable and mutually bound and I beryllium him a lot. Together with the precocious Zisis Dardalis, and Nikolaos Thyssen, were the two astir authentic, astir genuine and dynamic radical who threw our assemblage into orphanhood with their deaths. Father and his unjustly mislaid son, Adam, stock the aforesaid ineffable representation from today and the aforesaid resting place, 1 adjacent to the other, due to the fact that the dormant dice lone when we hide them. His fraternal wife, Maureen, his daughters, Eleni and Rebecca, his sons-in-law and grandchildren, will proceed to service a bequest that is simply a constituent of notation for each of us.

I adjacent this enactment with his ain communicative which I included successful his biography, to punctual the children who were calved oregon came accompanied by their parents, why their pioneering parents are worthy of respect, honour and eternal memory:

“I was not 5 years aged when I started working successful the fields, adjacent to my mother.

We collected the raisins successful baskets, similar the hen with the chicks.

We dipped the grapes successful lye (boiled ash water) so that the berries shrink and chopped disconnected from their bunches and spread them connected the threshing level of our vineyard, to adust under the sun.

Corinthian currants were universally popular.

Our parent sold our raisins to merchants successful the area, who had their warehouses successful the village. This was followed by its packaging successful wooden crates, with attraction and diligence, earlier being transported to the trains to Germany.

Then came the raisin crisis. We planted vineyards for table grapes. We besides had the ample vegetable plot successful beforehand of our house, which was protected by a wire obstruction supported by olive branches. Orange and citrus trees followed successful our location orchard. My parent and I planted 37 citrus trees. We had pome and pear trees.

On Saturdays we would spell with my parent to the farmers’ marketplace successful Aigio and merchantability our fruits and vegetables, greenish beans, artichokes, beets. The bazaar was my archetypal commercialized experience.

We had to woody with two horrible things, poorness and War. People had nary money.

In 1932, my begetter mislaid each the wealth helium had brought from Alexandria. Unemployment everywhere.

Many immigrants from the cardinal Peloponnese wandered astir asking for work for a sheet of food.

We lacked bread, wheat and oil. Hunger began. Life was made by exchanging products, eggs, raisins, milk, food and vegetables. What each household had. The Italians came first. They did not bash thing hostile.

Most of them felt some guilt and shame for what they experienced from the Greeks successful Pindos. We had nary wealth for the necessities, nor for the lipid for our lighting.

The schools were closed until 1944. The lone generator of our village was owned by a definite Theodosiadis. He besides ran retired of wealth and oil.

That Sunday, aft the bombing, my parent dressed us successful our festive apparel and took us to Santa Claus. Papa-Spilios and astir 5 stooped chanters officiated, led by our main cantor, ever connected the close psalter, Vassilis Anastasopoulos.

Suddenly the lights went out. The generator nary longer had oil. In the dim airy the candles and shadows of the faithful emerged. With the war, everything darkened. The faces of each the grown-ups are gloomy, achy and hungry.

That’s however I retrieve them. People could not wage for the oil, they borrowed without repaying. I retrieve my mediocre parent coming location from the nearest wood loaded with wood to support us warm.

To cook the trahanas, which helium had made astir two years ago, successful the fireplace. To fatten our hunger. When our parent was successful the orchards, my older sister, Anna, took attraction of the location and took attraction of our younger sister, Panagiota.

The war marked my puerility life. I saw the fierce look of war astatine the property of seven.

Our village was a supply halfway for the guerrillas. Often the guerrillas came down from Helmos and took supplies.

They had Korovotas arsenic their link. In the summertime of 1942 my sisters and I had taken refuge successful our father’s house, successful the colony “Pera meria”, which was built adjacent to Valimi, to remainder our mother. Our colony was separated by a small gorge that separated our borders.

One greeting we saw a batch of enactment successful our village. Germans had travel connected horseback and surrounded our small square.

After archetypal mounting occurrence to and burning down the school, they arrested Korovatas for interrogation. He was kept imprisoned successful the assemblage office. He was a young, tall and broad-breasted patriot and a bully householder.

In the afternoon, two soldiers dragged him retired of the slum and laid him under the tree. It was a wreck. Folded and beaten mercilessly.

They were preparing him for a gallows successful our square. He had refused to uncover the positions of our guerrillas.

He had been betrayed by 1 of our ain kiotes to the Germans. They hung him successful the square successful beforehand of our eyes, arsenic an example.”

Nikolaos Thyssen near the earthly life. His bequest remained to punctual and advise.

In the concern world helium was the teacher, the mentor, the lord of the innovative activity.

A uncommon fig of a dynamic, indomitable, generous and honorable man.

An migrant who broke the established bid and emerged arsenic a pioneer and authentic businessman.

A national who honoured the trust of the State and the society successful which helium lived.

A person who charmed with his pleasant personality, winning their respect.

A household antheral who lived done changeless giving and self-sacrifice.

We will retrieve him and we will respect him arsenic an eternal light.