In Memory of Nick Bacopoulos
In remembrance of the life of Nick Bacopoulos (March 13, 1949 – July 12, 2021), longtime Overseer and supporter of the Gennadius Library, his widow Calypso Gounti has donated to the Gennadeion an exquisite copy of the famous 18th-century monumental edition of The Antiquities of Athens by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett. The books were acquired by Nick a few months before his passing and it was his wish that they reach the collections of the Gennadeion. We are grateful for this gift that encapsulates his humanistic interests and his deep appreciation for the history and culture of Greece. Nick and Calypso have also endowed a special reading room in the newly renovated West Wing of the Gennadius Library.
A native of Athens, Greece, Nick Bacopoulos received a B.A. from Cornell College, a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and had his post-doctoral training at the Yale University School of Medicine. He started his scientific career at Dartmouth Medical School, where he led an NIH-funded laboratory. He then joined Pfizer as Director of Neuroscience and from 1996-2000 as President and CEO of Pfizer’s subsidiary, Anaderm Research Corporation. Nick was an inventor and a scientist who conducted innovative research on drugs and treatment methods against cancer that resulted in 12 patents. He was the president and CEO of various important pharmaceutical companies including Mersana and Aton Pharma, and the founder of several biotechnology companies (Kotinos Pharmaceuticals Inc., Medexis, S.A. and MAKScientific LLC), but also an avid book collector and an accomplished artist. He was a trusted advisor of the Gennadeion in terms of acquisitions of rare books, policies and issues of governance.
Ιn Greece, Nick served as General Director of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens at its inception in the early 2000’s. He also won an NIMH Research Service Award and a Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association Research Award in the United States.
May his memory be eternal.