For the loss of Ion Sayas
Date of article: 16/07/2020
Daily News of: 23/07/2020
Country: 
Greece
Author:
Article language: en
ANNOUNCEMENT For the loss of Ion Sayas John (Ion) Sayas held the crucial post of the Deputy Ombudsman responsible for environmental and quality of life issues, since 2011. He studied Development Economics and Urban and Regional Planning at the London School of Economics and obtained a PhD from of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens. From 1998 to 2004 he worked as a Researcher at the Institute of Urban and Regional Sociology of the Greek National Centre for Social research. Since 2004 he had been a member of the academic staff at the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, were he taught at a graduate and post graduate level. He has been scientific director and principal investigator in many research projects dealing with the spatial and socio-economic impacts of development at urban and regional level. Ion Sayas has been very dear to all of us who had the honor to know him and work with him. We are devastated for his loss. Our deepest condolences to his family. Statement of the Greek Ombudsman, Andreas Pottakis Professor Ioannis (Ion) Sayas took up the position of the Deputy Ombudsman responsible for the quality of life in 2011. Since then, he determined the course of the Independent Authority for about a decade, a period during which the protection of the environment -urban, suburban, natural, cultural-, the standard of living and the daily life of the inhabitants of Greece were tested as never before. With persistence, dedication to documentation and faith in the mediating role of the Ombudsman, he served as a catalyst towards the search for lawful, realistic and sustainable solutions to a number of cases of major interest as well as to systemic problems managed by the Authority during this period. At the same time, with similar diligence, he coordinated the work of the Ombudsman for resolving individual cases and disputes of the citizens. My collaboration with Ionas was for me an invaluable gift, a unique privilege. Our conversations were an inexhaustible source of inspiration. A profound connoisseur and defender of the institution, a man of rare culture, he continued with undiminished intensity, faith and passion to be a visionary, irreconcilable and relentlessly romantic. ...