Tryphon Efstathiou Ardizoglou was born on 10 October 1912 in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), the youngest of four brothers and three sisters. In 1922, in the wake of the Asia Minor disaster, the family left Constantinople and eventually arrived in London in 1924 after a short stay in Marseilles. 

Ardizolgou is Turkish for ‘son of juniper’ and, as Greeks, the brothers chose to change the family name to Kedros (Greek for juniper). 

Educated at Highgate School in London and a natural sportsman, Tryphon Kedros represented his school in football, rugby, swimming, boxing, and fives. Having sustained injuries in each over time, he eventually settled for the more social pastimes of golf and tennis; the latter he played well into his 90’s. 

He moved to Hamburg in the 1930s to work with his older brother Cleon in imports for a few years before the outbreak of WWII where he also learned German. He returned to the UK to join the British Army and was put to use with his unusual array of language skills, ending as Lord Jellicoe’s intelligence officer and entering Athens in 1944 with him as liberators. 

After the war years he opened T E Kedros Ltd, trading scarce commodities such as tinned fruit and tobacco, having built relationships with importers and exporters, and soon after developed Southern Shipping & Finance as a shipping company where he was joined by George Hayalides, the son of his eldest sister, Theodosia. He remained based in the City of London, living in the Surrey green belt where he raised his three children Anthony, Cleo and Zoe. 

In 1953 he was proposed as a Baltic Exchange member. Of this he said, “Membership is prestigious – and an excellent step for a company’s reputation.” 

During the ensuing years the company did indeed gain a considerable reputation in London where it was often referred to by its telegraphic name SORDEK (Kedros backwards!). The company went on a careful and well calculated road of acquiring vessels ahead of market demands. In the 1960s and 1970s the company managed tankers and bulkers, chartering to oil majors and large commodity houses. Together with his nephew George Hayalides and his colleague from the army, Mimis Issaias, Tryphon Kedros increased the SORDEK represented fleet to 20 vessels employing a strong chartering desk with a reputation for handling cargoes around the clock. 

He was made Honorary Member of Baltic Exchange at a private presentation in 2018 after 65 years of uninterrupted service. Tryphon's nephew Alexandros, son of his brother Cleon, now runs the family business.  

A keen member of the Baltic Exchange Golfing Society, Tryphon hosted its members and members of the Cardiff Exchange Golfing Society on several occasions to play at the Corfu Golf Club of which he was president, with celebrations at the Kedros house in his beloved Benitses on the island. 

His great friend and equerry to the Queen, Sir Carron Greig (Baltic Chairman 1983-85), included Tryphon among the members of the Greek shipping community to be introduced to the Queen by the Baltic Chairman Peter Harding during her visit to the old Baltic Exchange building in December 1981. She asked him: “How is it that you Greeks are so prominent in shipping?”. The first words of his answer were “Ma’am, it's simple…” and finished with “…even prehistorically, the Greeks were sailors and traders, and the ancient Greeks were known for their ships and merchandise.”

In the 80’s and 90’s Tryphon became more closely involved in various Hellenic charities in London. He was elected Honorary Chairman of London Hellenic Society, famous for its lavish annual gala ball where the entire London shipping community, both Greeks and non-Greeks alike, enjoyed good food, Greek music and dance until early hours. He was also active in Anglo-Hellenic League which had long brought together Hellenes and British philhellenes. He played a leading role in setting up the Hellenic Foundation, a grant making charity that promotes the study of Greek culture and London’s Hellenic Centre, a unique mix of community and cultural centre in the heart of the metropolis. 

Tryphon Kedros immersed himself in culture, he was an avid reader and enjoyed listening to the many learned people who lectured at the societies with which he was involved. He had boundless energy and enjoyed the many social events he had attended over the years. He celebrated his 100th birthday in style at The Mandarin Oriental Knightsbridge, with full Latino band dancing the feet off his chosen partners, all many years younger than him! 

A Greek, but also a proud Londoner, he was pleased with his Freedom Pass for the over 65’s, using London Transport whenever he could, every day catching a bus or using the Underground to go to the office. When he was over 100 his office colleagues tried and failed to persuade him to take a taxi:  those that didn’t know him would gasp: “What?! Is he still going to the office?! At a hundred?!”       

Like so much about the unforgettable Tryphon Kedros, strange but true.

He died peacefully at home in Vouiagmeni, Greece on 2 March 2021 aged 108 years old.

Denis Petropoulos, Chairman