page_title: Stelios Joannou
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Stelios Joannou / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Photographic portrait of Stelios and Ellie Joannou (Ioannou) by Clegg &amp; Guttmann, 1987 (original at the University of Oxford; copy in the Library of the University of Cyprus)
context_page_description: Stelios Joannou or Ioannou was an internationally acclaimed Cypriot industrialist and philanthropist, one of the two cofounders of the formidable Joannou & Paraskevaides construction firm, known by its trademark, J&P.
context_section_description: Born in Pano Lefkara, near Larnaca (Cyprus), Stelios Joannou was the son of Ttofi (Christofis) and Panagiota Ioannou. At a young age, together with his parents and his sister, Eleni, he moved to Nicosia, where his father owned and successfully directed a small inn that operated in parallel as a trading post for various goods. Growing up in the environment of the famous ‘Ttofi’s Inn’, also called ‘St Anthony’s Inn’, Ioannou had the opportunity to receive a hands-on business education and to witness first-hand the problems, strengths and needs faced by the rural population and the people active in production and trade in Cyprus.
  
  After completing his studies at the Pancyprian Gymnasium and the English School, Nicosia, he initially entered the world of commerce. 
   In 1938 he married Ellie Mousoulou (Karavas, Kyrenia, Cyprus, 29 December 1919 – Nicosia, Cyprus, 26 June 2010), the daughter of Sophocles and Evridiki Mousoulou and the sister of the eminent academic Loukas Mousoulou and the businessman Leonidas Mousoulou. Stelios and Ellie Joannou (Ioannou) had three children, Leonidas (Dakis), Sylvia and Christos, and together they embarked on a long and fruitful path as philanthropists. Their charitable endeavours intensified after the death of their younger son, Christos, in a car accident in 1971, at the age of 26. Despite his international business success, Ioannou never forgot his origins. Firmly committed to the interests of his homeland, he became a great benefactor of Cyprus through his charity and entrepreneurial activities. 
  Stelios Joannou passed away at the age of 84 on 8 May 1999 at the Nicosia General Hospital, where he had undergone surgery for an aortic aneurysm. The funeral was conducted by the Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos I, at the Church of Our Lady Pallouriotissa, Nicosia, on 10 May 1999. Many ambassadors, government ministers, parliamentarians, leaders and representatives of political parties and unions, entrepreneurs, friends and relatives were in attendance, as well as a large crowd of people who had benefitted from Ioannou's charity. The coffin was draped with the Greek flag, and the eulogy was delivered by Glafcos Clerides, then President of the Republic of Cyprus and a friend of Joannou.
  A true humanist who exhibited a great sensibility for literary and cultural affairs, Ellie Joannou (Ioannou) was repeatedly presented with awards for her contributions by such entities as the Red Cross and Stasinos, the Association of Greek Philologists of Cyprus (1981). After the death of Stelios Joannou, she furthered their common causes and worked towards the implementation of many of the visions that her husband did not live to realize, most significantly the construction of the exceptional Library and Learning Resource Centre at the University of Cyprus. She was also the first recipient of the Woman of the Year Award in Cyprus (2005).
caption: Photographic portrait of Stelios and Ellie Joannou (Ioannou) by Clegg & Guttmann, 1987 (original at the University of Oxford; copy in the Library of the University of Cyprus)
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