AHI Mourns the Passing of Serge Hadji, Esq.
No. 36
WASHINGTON, DC - The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) mourns the passing of Serge B. Hadji, Esq. He passed away on March 10, 2024 at his home in Athens, Greece with his wife, Yanna, by his side. He was 81.
In 1974, Serge co-founded the Panhellenic (Emergency) Committee of New York – one of the grassroots committees that sprung up throughout the US to fill the political vacuum in the Greek American Community. Working with AHI, the Panhellenic Committee helped coordinate the mobilization supporting Congress in the Turkish Arms Embargo.
He was an editor of two notable AHI publications. Most recently, The Rule of Law Lobby: Grassroots Mobilization and the U.S. Arms Embargo on Turkey - 1974-1978 (with Van Coufoudakis, Ph. D), which focuses on the grassroots mobilization in the Greek American community following Turkey’s illegal invasion and occupation of Cyprus on July 20, 1974 through the lifting of the U.S. Arms Embargo in 1978. As a key participant and keen observer of the intricacies of this issue, he was uniquely qualified to publish the authoritative compilation of the record and an account of the dynamics and logistics of the movement. In addition to protesting vociferously and providing humanitarian assistance, the Greek American community gradually coalesced into a lobby under the newly unfurled banner of the “Rule of Law.” This led to the remarkable accomplishment of cutting off military aid to Turkey under an arms embargo imposed by the U.S. Congress. The Rule of Law Lobby has been hailed as a seminal book which splendidly portrays the rise and evolution of a quintessentially American lobby spearheaded by AHI that influenced U.S. policy in the region. Serge also served as editor of the two-volume series, Doing Business in Greece: A Legal and Practical Reference Service, published by the Institute’s affiliated Foundation.
Serge was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1942, and immigrated to the United States in 1960. He was a New York lawyer. He started his career with Rogers Hoge & Hills, a Park Avenue law firm, and went on to become Senior Counsel of TRW Inc., a Fortune 100 multinational company. He served on the Board of Trustees of Anatolia College, his alma mater, since 1974, the first alumnus Trustee from Thessaloniki.
He was the loving husband to his wife Yanna for 50 years, and the proud father to three boys, Alexios, Philip, and Andreas.
His family held a funeral service for him in Thessaloniki, Greece on March 13, 2024.
In remembrance, AHI President Nick Larigakis said: “Serge Hadji played an immensely pivotal role in securing our community’s most significant policy achievement by working with AHI and our late founder, Eugene Rossides, to impose the Turkish arms embargo during the late 1970s. He lent his talents to producing important publications that documented our impactful advocacy during that time. We will always be indebted to Serge for his tremendous support of AHI over the decades. He will be remembered fondly and deeply missed. On behalf of the entire AHI and AHIF board of directors, our deepest sympathies and condolences are with the Hadji family. May His Memory Be Eternal!”
The American Hellenic Institute is an independent non-profit Greek American public policy center and think tank that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community.
For additional information, please contact us at (202) 785-8430 or pr@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our website at http://www.ahiworld.org.
