THE Foreign Ministry’s Director of the Department of Overseas Cypriots, Ambassador Stavros Epaminondas, died of cancer on Monday.
The Cypriot diplomat had felt pains in his stomach and lower back, and he was initially diagnosed with gallstones.
But further tests showed that Epaminondas had cancer and it had spread to a number of vital organs. He was rushed to Kings Hospital in London and scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning, but he died on Monday evening. He was 56.
Epaminondas, who was born in the Nicosia village Katidata in 1952, was orphaned from a very young age. He studied Political Science at Athens University, which he graduated from in 1977.
He entered the diplomatic service in 1979, serving in the European Union Department and the Foreign Ministry’s Bilateral Relations Department.
From 1980 until 1985 Epaminondas worked in Australia and from 1989 until 1992 he transferred to the Cyprus High Commission in London.
He was High Commissioner in New Delhi, India from 1993 to1997 and Cyprus’ Ambassador in Vienna from 2001 until 2005. During that time, he was also a Permanent Representative for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Epaminondas then spent a year working for the United Nations in Vienna and during 2005 and 2006 he was Ambassador in Rome. At the same time he received accreditations for Switzerland, Malta and San Marino.
He represented Cyprus and led diplomatic missions in international conferences and meetings; he participated in seminars and gave lectures on Cyprus, the island’s history, strategies, international relations and literature.
The late diplomat was a regular writer on Cyprus for newspapers and magazines, raising issues such as Cypriot immigrants, the history of their migration to Australia, and modern Cypriot history.
Epaminondas also co-wrote a book about the Cyprus Republic, Focus, which circulated in a north London University in 1993.
Also, in cooperation with Yiannis Karaolis, he prepared the text for a CyBC documentary on Cypriots in Zimbabwe and Australia.
The deceased leaves behind his wife Chrysanthi and two daughters, Nicoletta and Theodora.
