John Jacob Lavranos

John Jacob Lavranos (29 March 1926, in Corfu – 1 February 2018, in Portugal) was a Greek/South African insurance broker and botanist, with a special interest in succulents. He scientifically described almost 300 new species of plants, and a number have been named in his honor.

Early life John's mother, Lily, was half Swiss/German, and lived for most of her married life in the family house in Chlomos in Corfu. She and her husband Philip cared for John and his younger brother, Max, saw the occupation of Corfu during WWII, and lived through the bombings by Italians, Germans, British and Americans, only to be plunged immediately into the Greek Civil War of 1946 to 1949.

At the end of the War having served in the Greek Navy, John studied economics and law at the University of Athens, earning a B.Sc. (Econ.) degree in 1948. He arrived in South Africa in September 1952 with his first wife, Helen, and started work as an insurance broker. In 1967 he studied for a B.Sc. in Natural Science through the University of South Africa, and the following year enrolled at the University of Witwatersrand for an M.Sc. degree in botany and geography.

Crassula susannae was named for Suzanne Lavranos, the second wife of John Lavranos. Caralluma mireillae Lavranos, was named after John's third wife, Mireille, who died in 2014, and whom he had met in Djibouti. She was very supportive of his botanical explorations and often accompanied him. All three of John's marriages were childless.

John was known to be pragmatic, forthright, precise, energetic, and with a lively sense of humour. His knowledge of botany and geology was formidable, and this extended to climatology, geography, astronomy, history and music–he was an accomplished pianist earlier in his life. Despite being an agnostic, his Biblical knowledge was extensive. He was a polyglot and comfortable in Ancient Greek and Latin, and fluent in Greek, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Afrikaans. He succumbed in Loulé, Portugal following a stroke.