Past Supreme President of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (Order of AHEPA) James S. Scofield passed away May 22, 2020. He was 91.
“We mourn the great loss of Past Supreme President James Scofield,” AHEPA’s Supreme President George G. Horiates said in a statement.
“Words cannot adequately describe the wealth of knowledge Brother Scofield possessed about the Greek American community and Hellenic history, and further, to express the importance of the broad scope of his contributions to the community over several generations during countless hours of service,” he added.
Scofield served as Supreme President of the organization in 1990-91. During his term, AHEPA received special recognition from the U.S. Department of Interior for raising more than $600,000 for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
He authored the historically significant work “Forgotten History: The Klan vs. Americans of Hellenic Heritage in an Era of hate” on the occasion of AHEPA’s 75th anniversary, which U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes entered into the Congressional Record.
The piece educated a generation of Greek Americans about a little-known, yet critical, aspect of the community’s history. Scofield wrote it soon after his retirement as a 30-year senior executive at the St. Petersburg Times.
Scofield, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, participated on a six-man AHEPA delegation which visited Cyprus in October 1974 on a “fact-finding Mission of Mercy” following Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus.
The delegation brought 10,000 pounds of relief supplies, which included clothes, canned food, and blankets for the Cypriot people. They also visited several refugee camps to speak with the refugees and met with U.S., Greek, and Cypriot officials.
Scofield also chaired the AHEPA Publication Board, which administered The Ahepan Magazine, which was a natural considering his decades of experience in the newspaper world. In addition, he also served on the AHEPA National Board of Trustees and as chair of the National Ahepa New Smyrna Bicentennial Celebration.
Scofield received the AHEPA Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of contributions to the cause in 2016 at the organization’s 94th Grand Banquet in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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