Demetrios Liappas

Message from the President

Feb. 25, 2022

Dear LMU Community:

I am saddened to share that Demetrios Liappas, founding director of the Basil P. Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies, passed away on Feb. 20, 2022. He was 83 years old.  

From 1980 to 2014, Mr. Liappas led the Caloyeras Center. He instituted the minor in Modern Greek Studies in 1996, and in 2000 he established the Odyssey Program, LMU’s Summer Study Abroad program in Greece. Under his leadership, the center’s program expanded to 18 courses, 11 of which are included in the University Core. Mr. Liappas established several scholarships and academic awards, and he supported the center’s fundraising efforts, which included endowing a clinical professor position. He also created an adjunct professor position at the Center for Orthodox Christian Studies. Mr. Liappas’s legacy will remain with the generations of students he taught modern Greek language at LMU as part-time lecturer.

A memorial is planned for spring and more information will be forthcoming.

Please keep Demetrios, his spouse, LMU Professor Emeritus Katharine B. Free, his colleagues, and his many friends in your prayers. 

Sincerely,

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
President