The community of the Cyprus Institute learned with great sadness the death of Professor Fotis C. Kafatos, a world-class biologist and academic. Fotis C. Kafatos studied at the Universities of Cornel and Harvard.  In 1969 became Professor at  Harvard University. He also served as Professor at the Universities of Athens, Crete and Imperial College London. He was the founder and first President of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), the Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the founding President of the European Research Council (ERC). 

He received the most important prizes and distinctions for his scientific achievements and was elected fellow of the USA National Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society.

Kafatos served as the first (and only) Chair of the short lived (2010-2014) Scientific Council of Cyprus, and in this capacity he promoted scientific development in Cyprus. He was a big supporter of the Cyprus Institute, initially in the planning of the CyI (2000-2004) and more recently in the scoping of a Research Center for Biological Sciences under the CyI.The Cyprus Institute express the warmest condolences to his family.

Prof. Fotis Kafatos (third row, second from the left) in a 2002 group photo of the delegation of International scholars that endorsed the creation of The Cyprus Institute following a meeting with President Vasileiou.