Aristides Alafouzos and Kathimerini English Edition

Nine years after buying Kathimerini in 1988 and turning the floundering conservative broadsheet into a healthy business and a robust voice for the modernization of Greece's economy and politics, Aristides Alafouzos was approached by the International Herald Tribune to forge a partnership that would combine the finest global and local journalism. Within a few months, Kathimerini English Edition was born, in March 1998, the product of a joint venture between Kathimerini and the two newspapers that then comprised the IHT: the Washington Post and the New York Times.

What may have seemed like an uneven partnership turned into a long-lasting, productive marriage, thanks to the keen personal interest and commitment that Mr Alafouzos put into the venture. Kathimerini's English Edition quickly showed that the best of Greek journalism could stand next to the finest international...