J SVxaminer MAR 1 1975 :Aristotle Onassis, 69,

;:Associated Press He started as a telephone mum immunity from taxes. Aristotle Onassis reached operator and lineman for the trade restrictions and unrea- .for the skies and got them. telephone com- sonable regulations," Onas- 'An Olympian figure in life. pany in 1923 and worked his sis once said. " dur- in death at age 69 he took his way up into the tobacco im- ing its seven years of milita- ;:place among the legendary port business. ry rule was not a reasonable county." When democracy ipersonalities of Greece. His trade name was Ome- ga — the first letter of his returned in July 1974, Onas- A child of an ordinary sis did not help re pair ruins "Greek family from Asia Mi- name and the last of the Greek alphabet. in the economy. He also nor, Onassis might have gave up the ownership and 'died the happiest of men, as In 1930 he was named operation of Greece's nation- well as one of the richest, if Greek consul general for Ar- al airline, Olympic Airways. his only son Alexander had gentina and the next survived, him. year he entered the For a man who easily at- But, Alexander, the heir to shipping business by taking tracted women's attention If the empire, died in an air advantage of a wave of with his personality, wit and crash i n 1973. Family South American currency manly attitude, Onassis had friends said t h e tragedy devaluations which allowed few known romances after caused his father to lose in- him to buy three. Canadian his first marriage. Only his terest in a life that was long freighters at a the bargain close association with Maria and full of publicity. price of 8120,000. Callas attracted worldwide publicity. Onassis married Jacque- He went on to build one of line Kennedy, the widow of the largest privately owned Onassis did not like opera the late President John F. fleets in history, concentrat- and even Callas' emotional Kennedy. He had a lengthy ed on oil tankers but includ- singing did not stop him and intimate friendship with ing a big whaling fleet. from sleeping during her New York-born opera singer cruise ships and a variety of performances. He met her , Who divorced other vessels sailing every. in 1956 and they almost im- her Italian husband for On- ocean. mediately became close - assis' love. friends, His most famous ship was He was a close companion probably the Christina Both divorced their spous- o f the late Sir Winston named after his late former es in 1960 but never married Churchill; who spent several wife Christina "Tina" Live- each other, remaining close summer vacations cruising nos who died last October friends. with Onassis on the Mediter- ranean aboard Onassis's from an overdose of sleeping Instead. Onassis in 1968 325-foot yacht Christina. pills. married Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, America's former Onassis owned more than Tina, daughter of .Greek First Lady, on his private is- shipping czar Stavros Liva- six million 'tons of. shipping land of . nos, married Onassis after and was -worth more than News o f the marriage half a billion dollars. He en- World War II. Her sister Eu- joyed telling friends he ar- genia at the same time mar- shocked many Americans rived in Greece with less ried another who found it difficult to ac- than $60 in his pocket. millionaire, Stavros Niar- chos. He saidhehated photogra- phers and he had a feud The couple had two chil- with a New York photogra- dren, Christina and Alexan- pher for allegedly pestering der. Tina divorced him in his wife Jacqueline and her 1960, -succeeding in avoiding children.. But he posed for all publicity with a photos more often than any "quickie" decree granted in other international jetsetter. the tiny Alabama town of Pictures showed hi M Chatom, 60 miles north, of dancing-.the Syrtaki with ac- Mobile. dies in Paris tress Melina Mercouri in an She herself was wealthy, A t h e n s taverna, drinking and an American citizen. ouzo with Jacqueline on a cept that four years after the Onassis children.. The • She did not ask for ali- Nydri cafe, kissing actress Kennedy's his couple divided their times Elizabeth Taylor in Paris. mony, but Onassis was quot- widow had chosen to marry between New York and Sior- dining with Greta Garbo in ed at the time as saying that an international playboy. p o s. Geneva. if , her income fell below a Onassis a n d Jacqueline certain_ figure. he would pro- Onassis-was born in Izmir, first met in 1963 when she They stopped going t o now pad of , in 1906, vide additional funds. spent a brief vacation in Skorpios after Alexander's the son of tobacco merchant Onassis and Niarchos be- Greece after the death of death in 1973. Onassis turned • the' island's small church, • Socrates Onassis and Pene- came open rivals. They tried her infant sore- Patrick Bou- - lope Dologlu Onassis. to outdo each in business vier Kennedy. where they had been wed, dens as well as in giving ex- into a mausoleum for his When Turkish troops re- The marriage saddened 23-year-old son captured Izmir from the pensive presenti to their during the 1922 war, wives. Onassis fled to Greece and "My ' favorite country is then to . the one that grants maxi-