MR. KELLY: Good afternoon. This is a sad day for all of us here. We learned this morning that our long-time friend and colleague Lambros Papantoniou passed away. Lambros was a veteran member of our press corps family here and he was proud to say that he covered the State Department from Nixon to Obama. He loved his work here and we loved him.
He had very strong ties to my country, to the United States, beginning with his birthday. He was born on the Fourth of July. He arrived in the U.S. in 1973, earned advanced degrees in international law and political science from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1975, he began his career as a journalist, ultimately specializing in U.S. foreign policy relating to Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and the Balkans. Over the years, he wrote thousands of articles and became a leading voice on issues related to Southeast Europe.
We here at State will miss our lively interaction with our friend Lambros during the daily briefings where he offered us ample opportunity to engage on many important issues. We extend our sincere condolences to his family in Greece and here in the United States and to his many close friends among you all in the press corps. I understand a memorial service is being arranged on Monday and we will, of course, share with you any information we receive about this service.
Finally, I would just ask you all today to spare a thought or a short prayer for our friend Lambros, a man who touched all of our lives.
So thank you and I’ll --
He had very strong ties to my country, to the United States, beginning with his birthday. He was born on the Fourth of July. He arrived in the U.S. in 1973, earned advanced degrees in international law and political science from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1975, he began his career as a journalist, ultimately specializing in U.S. foreign policy relating to Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and the Balkans. Over the years, he wrote thousands of articles and became a leading voice on issues related to Southeast Europe.
We here at State will miss our lively interaction with our friend Lambros during the daily briefings where he offered us ample opportunity to engage on many important issues. We extend our sincere condolences to his family in Greece and here in the United States and to his many close friends among you all in the press corps. I understand a memorial service is being arranged on Monday and we will, of course, share with you any information we receive about this service.
Finally, I would just ask you all today to spare a thought or a short prayer for our friend Lambros, a man who touched all of our lives.
So thank you and I’ll --
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