Former PASOK minister Gerasimos Arsenis dies

Former Socialist minister Gerasimos Arsenis has died at a hospital in Athens. He was 85.

Born on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, Arsenis studied law at the University of Athens, before pursuing postgraduate studies in economics in the United States. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1960.

Between 1964 to 1966, Arsenis worked at the OECD Development Centre in Paris as director of the Research Division. For the next three years, he was with the United Nations, where he was appointed senior economist. In 1974 he was made director of UNCTAD, the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

After a brief spell as governor of the Bank of Greece in the early 1980s, Arsenis served in several posts during the PASOK party’s heyday, including in the ministries of Economy, Education and National Defense.

Following the death of PASOK founder Andreas Papandreou, Arsenis lost to Costas Simitis in the Socialists’ 1996 leadership election.

Arsenis was married to Louka Katseli, chairwoman of the National Bank of Greece.