Transitions: Athanasios Koukopoulos [Aθανάσιος Κουκόπουλος], M.D. (1931–2013)

Athanasios Koukopoulos was born in Chaeronea, a village in the district of Boeotia in central Greece, on 23 November 1931 as the son of Konstantinos and Maria Koukopoulos. His father hoped that he would remain at home to manage the land they owned, but Athanasios preferred to study. His energetic and supportive mother fought for his education. At the end of World War II, following years of exposure to violence and privation, his family moved to Athens just before the Greek civil war of 1946 to 1949. In Athens, Koukopoulos continued his education while playing professional basketball with the prestigious Panatinaikos Sports Club of Athens, which later on presented him with the Golden Clover award. In 1951, he moved to Italy despite remaining hard feelings in Greece following the recent Greco-Italian war of 1940 to 1941 and the subsequent Balkan campaign of the Axis powers in World War II.