Another annual conference of the Leadership 100 has come and gone. I won’t ask what the measure of the gathering’s effectiveness was, in other words, what were its substantial achievements beyond the friendly words and hymns for Archbishop Elpidophoros and his ‘vision’, which the president of the Organization, Demetrios Logothetis, indulged in, as we have written.

What I observed once again with dismay was the fact that not one person made even a mention of the name of a great man and benefactor of the Church, the Greek-American Community, Greece, and Hellenism in general, the late Michael Jaharis. Not that he needed it, but as a small token of gratitude for his many great contributions to the Church and the Nation.

The late Michael Jaharis, hailing from the village of Agia Paraskevi in Lesvos, was no less philanthropic, nor did he provide any less generously to the Archdiocese, the School of Theology, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Hellenism, than his peers. His substantial donation and legacy to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City alone could be characterized as monumental for Hellenism. But also, the Institute he established at the School of Theology in Brookline and the Chair at Tufts University in Boston, as well as the Institute at Tufts. And the ‘Jaharis Home for the Elderly’ in his parents’ village, in Agia Paraskevi in Lesvos, where elderly individuals who have no relatives or family, nor the means to end their days painlessly, honorably, and peacefully, find care and comfort.

The is also, Faith: An Endowment For Orthodoxy and Hellenism. That is also his work, with many millions of dollars going towards the completion of the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at Ground Zero. And on this occasion, for historical purposes, let me note here that I was present at the establishment the Faith endowment in Boston, and that is when it began to receive publicity, just so that no one forgets that The National Herald has been writing the history of the Church and Hellenism in America since 1915.

And to conclude this commentary, I say that if it weren’t for Michael Jaharis, neither the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center nor the enhanced presence of Greece in America’s foremost museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, would exist today. I present these thoughts as a tribute and in memory of this great man and benefactor of the Greek-American Community.