Emmanouil Benakis

Emmanouil Benakis (; 1843 in Ermoupoli, Syros – June 20, 1929 in Kifisia) was a Greek merchant and politician, considered a national benefactor of Greece.

Biography After studying in England, Benakis emigrated to Alexandria, Egypt, where he worked for the Greek cotton industrialist Horemi, and into whose family he married. He had six children, among whom were the writer Penelope Delta, the art collector Antonis Benakis and Argini Salvago whose daughter married into the Melas family and whose son was the couturier Jean Dessès. Benakis became the president of the Greek community in Alexandria and ran the largest enterprise of Greek cotton brokers in Egypt. He accumulated a considerable fortune.