Eulogy by CEO Mr. Antonis Polemitis

Transcript of actual remarks

Ευχαριστώ κύριε Πρύτανη για τα θερμά σου λόγια. (“Thank you, Rector, for your kind words.”)

I am going to address my remarks in English.  Some people who don’t speak Greek might find it useful.

Thank you, Rector Pouyioutas.  Andreas spent a lot of time with him (Rector Pouyioutas).  He was very fond of him.  And he thought he was the right person to keep the academic development of the University of Nicosia moving forward.  As usual in these things, Andreas was right.

I’m going to say a few words on behalf of the family.  Now, it is customary and typical, that we would say that he loved us very much, and, of course, we loved him very much, and, of course it’s obvious.  Here with us, we have Elena, Evie and Andreas, Olga, Roger, Irene.  His beloved sister Troodia could not make it, but her daughter is here.  And there are other valued friends and family among us also.

But I don’t think that’s the most differentiating thing about Andreas.  I don’t think he actually would necessarily want me to spend the next five minutes saying how wonderful he is.  Instead, maybe we could learn something about how he was.  I spent the last three days talking to my family, thinking about Andreas, reading many emails from many of you.  And I’ve tried to distill what, maybe, was important about him into three principles.

I think the first is that he always believed we should be better.  He believed he should be better, his family should be better, his colleagues, the University, our organizations, the public state, the country.  His driving focus was that we can and should be better. This is what unified everything he did.

Whether he was developing a new academic program, or whether he was quizzing you on what the capital of Australia was – and, maybe, quizzing you again a week later to make sure you knew what the capital of Australia was.  The capital of Australia, of course, is Canberra.  It was one of his favorite trick questions.

Cyprus is an island and that has many pluses.  But one thing, occasionally, that is a negative, is that we become a bit insular and inward-looking.  We say things like “this is how we are”, “this is how things are here in Cyprus” and “this is what you have to accept.”  Andreas was extraordinarily outward-looking.  He never accepted that this is how we are, that this is how we should be.  He would go to the world-at-large, he would see what excellence was, and he would say “this is what we should bring here.”  Whether it was at the University, or outside the University, or at the state itself.

You know, it is common to say that Andreas had a vision.  Of course, he had a vision.  But visions are not actionable principles; not practical principles.  What is, though, is to try to be better.  If you try to be “better,” then you apply what “better” is, what it ends up looking like in the end, is vision.

The second thing I would say – I didn’t realize it; this part I hadn’t realized until this weekend – was focus.  We marvel at the fact that in 1981 he was talking about building a university, but then it was just six students, in his apartment, and, today, the University of Nicosia and, more generally, the education sector in Cyprus, is what it is today.

One important factor in this outcome, is that for forty years, this was his singular, unrelenting focus.  He took the talents that he had and he applied them for forty years to the University. For as long as I remember him, six days a week, that’s what he was doing.  A month before his fight with Covid, he was writing a book.  He never stopped, he never got distracted, he focused on completing this one issue.

Other people might have said “I am going to retire and play golf” or “I want to be in the society pages.”  He didn’t care about those things. He didn’t care about getting fancy cars or fancy clothes – I guess we all know that about him.

What he cared about was making one specific individual thing better – the University.  And, what’s interesting, is that there’s a nuance here.  If you make a very good hotel, then Cyprus has a better hotel.  And, if you make a very good supermarket, Cyprus has a better supermarket, and these are important and valuable things.  But if you want to make a better university, you make everything better.

Education is a multiplier.  Education has ripple effects.  Education is the most important thing a country can do.  There is no other pathway for improving the quality of life of a country and its people, than education.  That’s why he focused there.

The third principle that, I think, distinguished Andreas, is that he treated everyone equally and with respect.  It didn’t matter if you were rich and famous, it didn’t matter if you were not at all rich and famous, it didn’t matter if you were in a senior position or a junior position, if you were in no position at all.  He treated everyone exactly the same way.

I have received dozens of private emails over the last three days.  And there’s a pattern.  The emails follow this five-part pattern: They say “I would go to your father’s office and, one, he would help me solve my professional problems; two, he would quiz me on topics of my field and topics of other fields; three, he would feed me! Falafel, curry, goulash, tyropites (cheese pastries); four, he would help me with my personal problems and my personal life; and five, he was like a second father to me.”

What is interesting in these emails, is that they came from Deans, and they came from receptionists, and they came from people inside the University, outside of the University, people of all types, and it was always all the same.  Because he always treated people in that same way.

Now, in one of these emails, I read a very interesting story.  It was from a colleague at the University, when, many years ago, her father died.  And he (Andreas) had written her (the colleague) an email, she said.  Now many of you know that Andreas was very spiritual, very religious.  What you might not know is that it runs in the family; his great uncle, I think, was a bishop, his mother went to a monastery at the end of her life.

And the story that he wrote to our colleague was about when his own mother died.  And a monk, who was a family friend, told him the following: «Για σένα, συλλυπητήρια. Για τη μητέρα σου, συγχαρητήρια.»  “For you, condolences.  For your mother, congratulations.  We console the people left behind.  Your mother is happy now.”  And I think this is correct.

Andreas has moved on to the next journey of his life.  But he has left a tear in our collective consciousness and in our collective social fabric.  It’s a tear in the shape of Andreas, of things Andreas wished to do.  And the emotions we feel now are us trying to heal that tear, to fill that tear and to heal that wound inside – pretty much, well, after all, as it always happens.

But what I think is interesting is the following: I don’t think the shape of that tear is primarily in the shape of the physical man that was Andreas.  1.8 meters, green eyes, was born in 1942 in Limassol.  I think the shape of that tear is primarily in the shape of the principles and values he lived by.  And those values, he didn’t take with him.  They are right here, still available for us.

Could we all decide to try and get better, and help other people get better?  Yes, I think we can. Can we all decide to focus on things that are important to us for a lot of periods of time?  Yes, I think we can.  Can we all decide to treat everyone equally and with respect?  Yes, I think we can.

Now, these are not easy things to do.  And they are not easy things to do consistently.  If they were easy things to do, there would be more people like Andreas.  But they are good things to do.  They are things that we should strive for.  They are things that I could do better, and, maybe we can all do better.

One of the things that is his legacy is now a self-perpetuating institution for teaching, learning and research; that is the institutional point.  But this can also apply on the personal side.  If we were all trying to get better, if we were all focusing on whatever it is that’s important to us, and if we were all treating others with respect, if we were all quizzing each other on topics important and unimportant, I think that’s another legacy, and he would be happy to see that.

Now, we’ve borrowed Andreas here in Nicosia for most of the last forty years.  But in his heart, εν Λεμεσιανός (He is a Limassolian).  He wanted to be buried in Limassol, and we will bury him in Limassol later today.

In the new year, we will find some way to consolidate some of the things people wrote and said and some of the memories they have with them, but we will do that afterwards.  In the meantime, I would like to wish you all a wonderful holiday with your family.  Cherish your life; it is short, and, thank you all for coming. It is very much appreciated.