Elisabeth's Gift

By John Psarouthakis

This book chronicles the story of an orphan raised by a wise, loving and caring lady called Elisabeth, who recognized his talent and developed in him the essential qaulities of discipline and character that turned virtue into accomplishment. Even though she could not read or write, readers will find Elisabeth a uniquely wise woman whose guidance and influences created the foundations that helped the author overcome challenges and adversity in life and live up to changes as they happened. Right up to the last page this volume shows that change and opportunity can be dealt with wisely. In a touching, inspirational memoir, Psarouthakis looks back at his unforgettable journey and pays tribute to this extraordinary woman his Aunt Elizabeth.



Elisabeths Gift Reader Reviews

"First, (the) book is extraordinary. I got it primarily to learn about a time in Crete that I have only heard in broad generalities. You do that very well and I can now better understand and visualize what actually happened at that time. I had no idea what you personally went through. Your descriptions make the moment come alive and they are emotional for the reader. It is an exceptional experience."
--Andrew Manatos
Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Carter Administration
President, Manatos and Manatos, Washington D.C.

Elisabeths Gift is a book that one does not leaf through it easily. Every page requires your attention. It wants to talk to you, to narrate an entire life
--Archbishop (late) of North and South American Iakovos

This book tells the story of his (John Psarouthakis) early life. It is the chronicle of an orphan raised by a wise and loving Aunt Elisabeth who recognized his great ability-and developed in him the qualities of disciple and character that turned nobility into accomplishment.
--Professor Paul E. Gray
President and Chairman (ret), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 31, 2008
• ISBN: 9781465324078

John Psarouthakis

Dr. John Psarouthakis Dr. John Psarouthakis is the founder and former chairman / CEO of JP Industries, Inc. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, became a Fortune 500 industrial company, and was merged with T&N, plc, He is also the founder and former chairman of JPE, Inc. which traded on the NASDAQ exchange until it was sold to a privately owned company. Dr. John has led the acquisition and subsequent management of over 50 businesses in the USA and Europe, including two joint ventures, one in Japan and one in Italy. Currently, Dr. John, Coaches CEO’s and high level executives on Corporate Strategy, Growth Business Models, and Acquisitions. Dr. John taught at the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan, focusing on corporate strategy and acquisitions. He was Sr. Lecturer at MIT on “Business Leadership”. He has received many awards, including twice being named Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine.; Received the Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Association of Deans of Schools of Business, USA; Received the Corporate Leadership award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Lorraine M. Ulahner Lorraine M. Uhlaner is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the International MBA Program at Nyenrode Business Universiteit. Prior to coming to Nyenrode, Dr. Uhlaner was the founding Director of the European Family Business Institute at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) in the Netherlands. Before coming to the Netherlands, she was founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and a Professor in Management at Eastern Michigan University.

Book preview

Elisabeth’s Gift

John Psarouthakis

Copyright © 2008 by John Psarouthakis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and

retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

45536

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction to Elisabeth’s Gift

Foreword

Prologue

Part One

Part Two

Author Biography

45536-PSAR-layout.pdf

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to the following persons for their contribution to the successful completion of this book.

First of all, I express my deep appreciation to my wife, Antigoni Kefalogiannis, for persuading me to write this book. It was an emotional experience reliving those trying times on one hand, and the wonderful, wise, and warm presence of Elisabeth and Pari on the other hand. Antigoni’s support and gentle push were both a comfort and an incentive to write the story.

To my friend Tom Fergusson, reporter, for his tireless efforts through his questions and suggestions that helped me relive and talk about the persons and events of those days.

To Ms. Apple Geradela, Xlibris editor, for her excellent work in editing the book and making sure that what I wanted to convey and my inner self-expressions did not change.

Ann Arbor, MI

December 6, 2007

Introduction to Elisabeth’s Gift

I have not read again a book with so much human content. It is written with such vitality. Every word is carefully chosen and with distinct expressiveness. Reading this book you have the feeling that you are looking at an unwinding movie film that was taken just yesterday. You are shaken by its simplicity and the written plot of the moments of a life that throbs with the inner feeling of stubborn will-power to distinguish self with the most objective criteria.

Elisabeth’s Gift is a book that one does not leaf through it easily. Every page requires your attention. It wants to talk to you, to narrate an entire life. A life with three worlds: The world without modesty, of persecution, of ravage and uprooting; The world of strange lands, transplantation and growing up without parents; The world of hard realities, of struggle, and of survival and the New Life.

Elisabeth’s Gift is not a fiction story. It is the Mythos and the Logos of a life bold that does not bow passively and fatally to humiliating challenges that lead to defeat. It is the opening of a fountain and the watering of an anemic root so that can bloom again, so eloquently and gratefully proclaims John Psarouthakis, Elisabeth’s sensitive nephew. He so respectfully closes the story in front of the reverent memory of her in the last two lines of the book.

Elisabeth’s Gift, so valuable a foundation in the author’s shaping of his personal believe, as he analyzes it in the second part of his book, is not only an admonition for the young to learn, but also it is his personal heritage. The teenager from 70 Macedonia Street in Chania, Crete, with the dream of an indomitable young man, bridges and unites inside him Crete with Europe and Europe’s daughter America. He unites Americas worlds in one world: the world of industry, entrepreneurship, space exploration, and the improvement of man’s condition, the same as the much-wandering man of Homer, and the unapproachably-wondrous man of Sophocles.

Archbishop (late) of North and South America Iakovos

Foreword

Foreign visitors to the United States, from de Tocqueville to the present generation, frequently comment on the ethnic and racial diversity of this nation and on the ways in which our society is constantly renewed and refreshed by immigration. As one who has worked for most of his adult life in a science-based university where students come from more than 100 countries, I experience daily the remarkable energy and enrichment they bring.

John Psarouthakis is an extraordinary example of the benefits to this nation of the international student, become immigrant, become citizen. As an engineer, entrepreneur, business leader, and philanthropist, he has made, and is making, America a better place.

This book tells the story of his early life. It is the chronicle of an orphan raised by a wise and loving Aunt Elisabeth who recognized his great ability and developed in him the qualities of discipline and character that turned nobility into accomplishment. It is the story of great responsibility assumed, of a childhood lived in a war zone, of privation unimaginable to most Americans today, and of a willingness to take great risks in the pursuit of education.

It is also a story, writ large, about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology half a century ago—about friendships and kindnesses, about lessons learned and obstacles surmounted, about obligations and gratitude. Mr. Psarouthakis’ memories of his years here as a student are a testimony to a determined spirit who responded to adversity with creativity and to challenge with achievement. In a sense, it is the story of thousands of international students who, in seeking education on these shores, have done so to our benefit as well as theirs.

Elisabeth’s Gift is an inspiring chronicle. As John Psarouthakis’ friend and colleague, I am honored to have this opportunity to add these words to his memoir.

Professor Paul E. Gray

President and Chairman, retired

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, Massachussetts

Prologue

I do not remember my father. He died when I was two years old.

My mother died one year later. I remember her in one sunlit image—a brief, slow-motion mountainside scene. Surviving relatives have told me that I must be remembering one of my aunts, younger sisters of my mother. They were probably right. But that does not rule out the possibility that it is Stamatia, my mother, the image I still see before me in the sunlit Cretan village, the summer of 1935. This is one scene of the tale I am writing in this book that I consciously choose to romanticize—I believe I remember my mother for an instant. The rest of the tale that I am writing about is fact.

But why tell it? We do not live in the past and should not try. The present and the future are what we live for and must try to improve. Change and challenge, not old battles won and lost, embrace issues that matter. Looking at the past, however, will bring up the relevant experiences and lessons that will help us shape, in part, our attitude, sense of determination, and desire for the future.

I set out here, in fact, to tell at the moment of great misfortune in losing both parents at a very young age, when Aunt Elisabeth steps up and puts her protective arms around me and my brother; and that moment, we became her surrogate sons!

It is a real-life narrative about Aunt Elisabeth’s upbringing and guidance and of her way of creating the foundations that helped me and my brother overcome adversities, face realities, and move on with our lives with a positive and hopeful attitude. It is about her influence on us in handling change and opportunity.

Let me say some brief words about change and challenge. I have tasted the sweet water of opportunity and success, insistently—by nature and Elisabeth’s upbringing—finding great pleasure in successfully anticipating tomorrow! Not to my own surprise, I find that anything useful I might say requires recounting how I came to pursue the American Dream and the role Elisabeth, the sister of my maternal grandmother, played in it from the day she took over the responsibility of my upbringing when Stamatia left this world.

John Psarouthakis

December 6, 2007

Part One

From An Island

Elisabeth was many things, briefly affluent, then impoverished for the rest of her life. She could not read or write, but she was always wise. She never set foot outside the eastern Mediterranean, never rode in an airplane, never owned a radio or a TV set. Yet she was my conduit to my coming to America, get a great education, and become financially independent.

I knew, of course, that I would talk about Elisabeth in these pages. But I had no idea, until the words began to flow, how she would dominate my thoughts. Perhaps most of us had someone who played such a role in our young lives, unavoidably taking center stage if we set out to tell a true and meaningful tale of how we became who we are. Those who have had such a person, even with half of Elisabeth’s qualities, are the fortunate ones.

What I intended to talk about in this book was the future of the American Dream, which has been so good to me. No one seems to agree exactly how to define that dream. Individual freedoms and opportunity to prosper, though, have been a part of everyone’s definition—no matter the era and no matter their politics. Often as not, a classic tale of the American Dream involves an immigrant, such as myself. Familiar as that territory might be, I wanted to explore it, affirm it, publicly cherish it, do my part to help nurture it into the next generation.

My three careers have blessed me with participation as a scientist in the early days of the U.S. space program, immersion in the private sector as a technology manager and deal maker, and emergence as an entrepreneur whose first company made its way into the Fortune 500. That seemed like fodder for such a book. I put it all down on paper—days in the laboratory, breathing the heady air of invention on the frontier of space, going face-to-face with the vast bureaucracy that funded the effort, breaking out into the world of free markets, making deals, and creating companies. And then I realized all good stories begin at the beginning, which for me was Elisabeth.

In the end I recognized that—this time around, at least—merely telling the tale of my beginning also tells the essence of what I wanted to say about the American Dream. Its future depends in so many ways upon the kind of beginning we give our children and how they adapt in their first years out of the nest. So this little book begins and ends with Elisabeth. She departs the center stage in the second half of the tale, of course. Even the most important characters in each life’s drama do that. They move on. Or we move on. And we focus on the next and then, and then which will lead us on toward our summation. Life is a long script in progress, and we alone act out the final scenes. The careful reviewer, however, looks back and finds, in act one, the force that carries the script forward all those years.

We cannot live in our scrapbooks, interesting as they may be. My hope is you’ll find some snapshots here that will be useful and that I can share some of Elisabeth’s Gift.

Bullets in the Background

On May 20, 1941, the elite vanguard of the Nazi war machine landed on the island of Crete and disappeared. Not literally, of course. Crete fell in ten days and would remain in German hands for four years. But the Fallschirmjagers—the ultrasecret paratroop corps that Hitler unveiled in the attack on Crete—were destroyed as a functional unit. The invaders expected an easy three-day foray against poorly equipped and weary British, Australian, New Zealander, and Greek soldiers, most of whom had retreated to Crete from the Greek mainland. Instead, the defenders fought fiercely, often with weapons wrested from attackers’ bodies. Mountain villagers, men and women, took up rusty rifles and scythes to attack disbelieving paratroopers as they hit the ground. With World War II in its twenty-first month, and with the swastika flying over most of Europe, more German soldiers died in the brief battle for Crete than killed in the entire war to date. Hitler declared, Crete has become the graveyard of the German paratrooper. The fuhrer never again launched a major airborne attack.

Cretan guerrillas, heirs to centuries of resistance against invaders, operated until war’s end from mountain villages and caves. The Nazis were forced to keep 10,000 troops garrisoned on the 150-mile-long island. More important, historians agree that the precious three months Hitler lost in preparing and executing the disastrous assault on Crete fatally delayed Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. The world knows the Third