The Mayor of Ioannina, Moses Elisaf, passed away at the age of 68 on Friday. The first Jewish mayor in Greece lost the battle against cancer.
Moses Elisaf has been battling cancer for the last few months and his health has seriously deteriorated recently. The Municipality of Ioannina had announced that the mayor was facing a health problem and was in a hospital in Athens. In the announcement, he spoke of an “unforeseen health problem that arose during a planned trip,” media reported.
Moses Elisaf was born in Ioannina in 1954.
The Mayor of Ioannina, Moses Elisaf, passed away on Friday, February 17, with his health having seriously deteriorated recently.
Moses Elisaf has been battling cancer for the last few months and his health has seriously deteriorated recently. The Municipality of Ioannina had announced that the mayor was facing a health problem and was in a hospital in Athens. In the announcement, he spoke of an “unforeseen health problem that arose during a planned trip.”
Moses Elisaf was born in Ioannina in 1954. He was the son of Romaniote Jews and Holocaust survivors who had escaped the Nazi roundup which saw all but 9% of Ioannina’s Jews deported to Auschwitz.
His parents survived the Holocaust. They managed to escape to the Middle East, but their families perished. His grandparents and 10 relatives did not return from Auschwitz and Birkenau.
The mayor of Ioannina was elected in June 2019, as the head of the multi-collective combination “Yiannena Nea Epoch”, which was flanked by executives of the Center-Left and N.D. In the first round he received a percentage of 23.82% while in the second he prevailed over his co-candidate and predecessor, Thomas Bega, with 50.33%. Thus he became the first mayor of Jewish origin to be elected in Greece.
Moses Elisaf was for many years a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Israeli Council. For two years he was secretary general of the Board of Directors, while for 2 decades, he was president of the Israeli Community of Ioannina.
Immediately after his election as mayor of Ioannina, in June 2019, the KISE in its announcement, among other things, stated: “For Greek Jewry, the success of Moses Elisaf marks a milestone in the history of the Jewish presence, both in the city of Ioannina and and in Greece, since for the first time a Greek of the Jewish religion is elected mayor. A success that causes admiration, but also emotion.”
Moses Elisaf graduated from the Medical School of the University of Athens in 1979. He worked at the Institute of Lipids and Atherosclerosis Research, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel (1993-1994).
He was professor of Pathology at the School of Medicine of the University of Ioannina and director of the 2nd Pathology Clinic of PGNI. He was also in charge of the Lipid Metabolism and Obesity Outpatient Clinics where numerous patients are followed.
He was an active member of 27 Scientific Societies, while he was repeatedly the president of the Hellenic Atherosclerosis Society and a member of the Board of Directors. He was also vice-president of the Board of Directors. of the Study, Research and Education Institute for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases and Vice-President of the Board of Directors. of the Hellenic Society of Pathology of Northwest Greece.
The deceased served as editorial director and member of the editorial board of 47 internationally recognized medical journals, as well as a reviewer in 118 international medical journals. He has 772 foreign language publications in authoritative international scientific journals in basic and clinical research, in the subject of hypertension, lipids, atherosclerosis, as well as acid-base balance and electrolyte disorders. He has published 2 books on acid-base and electrolyte disorders, as well as dyslipidemias. He has organized numerous conferences and symposia on hypertension, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular risk factor management, and acid-base balance and electrolytes.
He was President of the Organizing Committee of the Satellite Meeting on Secondary Dyslipidemias of the European Atherosclerosis So
He was an active member of 27 Scientific Societies, while he was repeatedly the president of the Hellenic Atherosclerosis Society and a member of the Board of Directors. He was also vice-president of the Board of Directors. of the Study, Research and Education Institute for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases and Vice-President of the Board of Directors. of the Hellenic Society of Pathology of Northwest Greece.
Elisaf was reportedly a non-religious Jew.
