PIEDMONT — Former Oakland Tribune executive editor Paul G. Manolis died Saturday at home of natural causes. He was 92.
Manolis, who led the paper for 14 years, was also an author, professor, and founder and director of an independent religious research institute.
“Paul’s life of 92 years was filled with many accomplishments, but serving the church was always a priority,” the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese’s Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos said in a statement Monday.
Born Feb. 4, 1928, in Sacramento, he was raised by Greek immigrant parents alongside a sister and two brothers. He graduated from C.K. McClatchy High School before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II. After basic training in Indiana and Texas, he transferred to the U.S. Defense Department’s Language Institute in Monterey, where he taught Greek to officers preparing for post-war rebuilding initiatives.
In 1952, Manolis earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, followed two years later by a graduate degree in history from Harvard University.
After his appointment as a fellow at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks Institute in Washington, D.C., he became an executive aide to U.S. Senate Majority Leader William F. Knowland, R-California. When Knowland finished his Senate term, Manolis returned to California and became the Oakland Tribune’s executive editor from 1964 until the paper’s sale to Gannett in 1978.
Between running a newspaper and family life, Manolis found time to serve on boards of directors for the Oakland Boys Club from 1960 to 1965, the Oakland Museum from 1964 to 1972, and the Oakland Symphony. He also served two terms as vice-chairman for the California Arts Commissions and as a National Endowment for the Humanities juror.
As a resident of Piedmont for 55 years, he also joined Piedmont’s Boy Scout Council from 1979 to 1984. He served on the boards of directors for the Piedmont Historical Society and Piedmont Educational Foundation.
Manolis’ ties to UC Berkeley included work for its development office, participation in capital campaigns, a regional alumni presidential term, and chapter advisor for the SAE fraternity. He was UC Berkeley’s director of class campaigns and reunions from 1982 to 1993, followed by more than a decade and a half as an adjunct professor at the university’s Graduate Theological Union.
As part of a life-long interest in Greek Orthodoxy and the Greek diaspora, he founded and directed the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in 1987, and wrote a three-volume history of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States.
“When reflecting on his life, you cannot help but notice the vision and clarity he had and how these gifts were useful in his leadership and development of many important initiatives in the Archdiocese,” Gerasimos said.
“To his family, I especially convey my deepest condolences and pray for your peace and comfort during this time of great sadness,” he said.
Manolis is survived by his wife Elene Zahas Manolis, children Alexandra, George and Damian, daughters-in-law Monica and Rocio, and eight grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son Dimitri in 1985.
Services will include a Trisagion rite at 7 p.m. Wednesday and a funeral at 10:30 a.m. Thursday followed by a traditional makaria meal at Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 5700 Lincoln Avenue, Oakland.
In lieu of flowers, family members ask that donations in his memory may be made to the Ascension Summer Camp Fund, c/o Ascension Cathedral, 4700 Lincoln Avenue, Oakland, CA, 94602, or the Piedmont Educational Foundation, 401 Highland Avenue, Piedmont, CA, 94611.
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.