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NEW YORK — Ioanna Antzouli-Giannopoulou, the longtime Director of Operations of Hellenic Public Radio–Cosmos FM and a beloved figure in New York’s Greek American community, passed away suddenly in her native Lamia, Greece, on Sunday, August 23, 2026—the day of her 72nd birthday.
Born in Lamia and raised in Athens, Giannopoulou moved with her family to Brooklyn in 1973. She studied English writing at New York University and earned a liberal arts degree from Brooklyn College.
After stepping away from radio to raise her two sons, George and Thomas, she served her beloved Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox parish as Parent-Teacher Organization president, a School Board member, and a Philoptochos volunteer.
Giannopoulou joined the Greek American Educational Public Information System, Inc. (GAEPIS), the nonprofit organization operating Cosmos FM, as a volunteer in 2001. In 2006, she became Director of Operations. For more than two decades, she helped sustain Cosmos FM’s bilingual public-service mission and its work of preserving Hellenic culture, language, and identity. Producers and volunteers affectionately called her the station’s “Μάνα του Λόχου”—the caring, steadfast presence who held everyone together.
In 2018, the Association of Greek American Professional Women honored Giannopoulou with its Greek American Woman of the Year Award in recognition of her service to Cosmos FM and the broader community.
His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America offered the following condolences:
“With profound sorrow, I learned of the sudden passing of Ioanna Giannopoulou. Through more than two decades of devoted service to Cosmos FM and GAEPIS, Ioanna helped sustain a vital voice of Hellenism in America and strengthened the bonds uniting our community with Greece. She served with faith, warmth, and tireless generosity, and her legacy will endure in the institution and the people she loved. On behalf of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, I extend heartfelt condolences to her sons, George and Thomas, to her entire family, and to the Cosmos FM and GAEPIS family. May her memory be eternal.”
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
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