S O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ Bringing the news W ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ to generations of E ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 The National Herald Greek- Americans N c v A wEEKly GREEK-AmERICAN PUBlICATION www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 16, ISSUE 815 May 25-31, 2013 $1.50 Regeneron’s Success Has Archbishop Ieronymos Welcomed in the U.S. Been Led by the Team of Athens Prelate Went To NYC Cathedral Vangelos & Yancopoulos During Historic Visit TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - The news medical degree. He has made do - that a new asthma drug being de - nations amounting to tens of mil - By Constantine S. Sirigos veloped by Sanofi and Regeneron lions of dollars to those schools. TNH Staff Writer Pharmaceuticals which may help In 1986 he became head of patients whose condition is not Merck & Co. which he led to new NEW YORK – It was a more well controlled by existing medi - heights, and where he gained a emotional Sunday Divine Liturgy cines was also the story of the reputation for being an outstand - than usual at the Archdiocesan partnership of two of the most ing leader. He resigned in 1994 – Cathedral of the Holy Trinity this prominent Greek-American mem - Merck has age limits – and was week, and the yearlong celebra - bers of the pharmaceutical indus - lured to Regeneron by Schleifer tion of the 100th anniversary of try. on the advice of Yancopoulos who the Cathedral of Sts. Constantine Pindar Roy Vagelos, who for - doubted whether his compatriot and Helen in Brooklyn gained its merly headed the giant drug com - would join them. highlight when Archbishop pany Merck and was a legend in Yancopoulos was born in Ieronymos of Athens and all the business, and research Woodside, Queens, right next to Greece, invited by Archbishop chief Dr. George Yancopoulos Astoria, the great Greek enclave. Demetrios of America, breathed teamed with Regeneron’s Chief His father was Damis George Yan - the presence of the people of Executive Leonard Schleifer to copoulos, an insurance man well- Greece, with all their struggles turn what had been a relatively known in the community as a and hopes, into the Greek-Amer - unknown biotechnology com - champion on the Macedonian is - ican community. pany based in sleepy Tarrytown, sue, and who was also active with After the liturgies on May 19 New York, into a player in the Kastorian organizations. in Manhattan and on May 21 – field. Yancopoulos finished first in the latter marked the Brooklyn The Vagelos-Yancopoulos pair - his class at the prestigious Bronx parish’s feast day – Ieronymos ing is that of children of Greek High School of Science, and then expressed thanks to the commu - immigrants. earned his doctor’s degree at Co - nity for all its support through Vagelos, whose family has its lumbia. They are from families of the years, and his appreciation roots in Asia Minor, was born in modest means, but rich in char - EUROKINISSI for its solidarity during the cur - Westfield, New Jersey. His father acter and Hellenic values. Samaras: Ireland Shows Greece Path Away from Austerity rent crisis. ran a coffee shop and the young In a 2010 feature by the news It was a moving coincidence Pindar helped out. He was a bril - agency Reuters, which outlined Greek P.M. Antonis Samaras and his Irish counterpart, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, walk through the that the first official visit of a pri - liant student at the University of the company’s ambitious plans, Acropolis Museum with its director, Dimitris Patermalis. Kenny said they discussed a banking mate of the Church of Greece to Pennsylvania and at Columbia the relationship between the union and youth unemployment in meetings during his visit to Athens. the United States in more than University, where he received his Greek-Americans, and their team - 50 years occurred during the ing with Schleifer showed the Paschal season, when choirs, promise to come . chanters, clergy and congrega - In March 2003, when the tion continually chanted Christos company’s Axokine obesity treat - Rangos, Hopkins United against Cancer Anesti. ment stumbled in clinical trials, There were numerous refer - Regeneron shares lost more than ences by clergy and congregation half their value. By Evan C. Lambrou the ultimate corruption of the So far, the main strategy to alike to the expected resurrection Undaunted, and knowing that Special to The National Herald flesh, ravaging thousands upon treat cancer has relied heavily of Greece and a hoped-for Hel - most biotech companies were tak - thousands of people week after on early detection of malignant lenic renaissance in Greece and ing their futures on only one or NEW YORK – Cancer is ar - week. American Cancer Society tumors to prevent the disease the Diaspora. two drugs – with many going bust guably the world’s most dreaded statistics report that, in 2012, from spreading beyond local - After the Divine Liturgy at in the process – Regeneron disease. It takes on many forms. more than 1.6 million people ized tumors. If a tumor is found Holy Trinity, in which the hier - planned to have as many as 40 It starts in one place – the orig - died of cancer in the United before it starts to metastasize archs, priests, and deacons from drugs in trials by 2017 under its inal location of the tumor typi - States alone. (i.e., hatch), there’s a good Greece that accompanied Ierony - lucrative deal with Sanofi to test cally identifies the type of can - Yet hope remains. As medical chance the disease can be neu - mos participated, both archbish - Regeneron antibodies against a cer – and can then spread and scientific research has con - tralized. ops addressed the congregation. wide range of diseases. throughout the human body. tinued to advance in recent But while early detection re - Demetrios presented his Brother In the 12-week study of the Unregulated cell growth is decades, some forms of cancer mains key to preventing cancer in Christ with a check for new asthma drug Dupilumab, the hallmark of the disease. have become eminently curable from taking hold, early detec - $100,000 for programs to benefit which has propelled the com - Cancer cells divide and grow (e.g., prostate cancer). Cures for tion is not always easily accom - the children of Greece. After pany’s fortunes, the number of uncontrollably. Unchecked, they other forms remain vexingly plished. All too often, catching gratefully receiving the donation Roy Vagelos, renowned scien - can then invade other parts of elusive, however (e.g., pancre - tist and industrialist. Continued on page 9 the body, so in many ways, it is atic or ovarian cancer). Continued on page 4 Continued on page 6 Greece: Oft- Erika Spyropoulos Honored as Friend of Paideia Greece Now Overlooked By Eleni Kalogeras Prepared for TNH Staff Writer Victim of the NEW YORK – There was some - Slow-moving thing of an academic air, of the loving spirit that pervades the Holocaust lives of the chosen people of Recovery Lady Luck and blessed by God, By Aileen Jacobson the philanthropic fragrance of a The New York Times couple well-known for their By Andy Dabilis good and charitable works. It TNH Staff Writer The photographs of proud was a celebration of the educa - Greek Jewish families in the tor, artist, and philanthropist ATHENS – Returning from early 1900s and the richly dec - named Erika Wilhelmine Knick - China with promises of invest - orated artifacts from centuries mann Spyropoulos, the wife of ment to help Greece’s struggling past on display at the Holocaust the Chicago-based businessman economy get out from under a Memorial and Tolerance Center and Coordinator of SAE (USA) staggering $390 billion debt, of Nassau County reflect a vi - Theodore Spyropoulos that was Prime Minister Antonis Samaras brant community. But images held on May 19 at the Greek- has moved toward utilizing the from the 1940s, of sobbing peo - owned Grand Prospect Hall in energy industry to help boost a ple on their way to Nazi death Brooklyn. And how could these recovery he said will come camps and of postwar commem - life enhancing elements not slowly. orations of the murdered, doc - have dominated the day, since He also got good news when ument a darker era. all these and even more are ex - the head of the Eurozone said “Portraits of Our Past: The pressions of the essence of Spy - that the country will get more Sephardic Communities of ropoulos and her husband! time to meet fiscal targets as Greece and the Holocaust,” on The 2013 “Pallas Athena” part of a second bailout of $173 view through Aug. 15, is an ex - Award Luncheon was co-orga - billion that came with more at - hibition about a little-known nized by the Federation of Hel - tached austerity measures. sector of the Holocaust that lenic American Educators, The The government also ap - Beth Lilach, senior director of Greek Teachers Association TNH/COSTAS BEJ peared satisfied that European education and community af - Stella Kokolis, President of the Federation of Hellenic American Teachers (L) presents Erika Union leaders appeared to back fairs, said she had long wanted Continued on page 5 Spyropoulos with a gift and a plaque acknowledging her devotion to education. Greece’s plans for gas and oil to bring to the center. exploration in the Aegean. “When most people think of “The Commission intends to the Holocaust, they think about assess a more systematic re - Germany, Poland, Auschwitz, course to on-shore and off-shore the camps,” she said. In Greece, U.S. Blames Catsimatidis is Not Lacking in Ideas indigenous sources of energy however, 87 percent of the Jew - with a view to their safe, sus - ish population perished, she tainable and cost-effective ex - said.