Aris Anagnos was born in Athens, Greece in 1923. After serving in the Greek Army with the Allied Forces in the Middle East during the Second World War, he returned to Greece and worked with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association (UNRRA) in general relief work for war-devastated Greece.
Aris came to the United States in 1946 as a student and attended the University of California at Los Angeles. He graduated in 1951, obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance.
After 1951, Aris was for several years in the insurance business, shifting later to real estate investments and development. He had been active in many community affairs, principally in the field of human rights, civil rights, equal rights, civil liberties, and the Peace Movement. He served on the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California for over twenty-five years, including a term as President for two years. He was among the founders of the Humanitarian Law Project of the International Education Development Fund, over which he presided for several years and he had been President of the Southern California Americans for Democratic Action.
During the 1967-1974 military dictatorship in Greece, Aris & Carolyn organized a Committee for Democratic Freedoms in Greece, which hosted Melina Mercouri and generated support for the various resistance groups. Upon the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Aris and Carolyn joined in founding the Save Cyprus Council, later renamed the Hellenic American Council.
Aris has served continuously as Vice President and a term as President of the organization. During the past year, the Council has been very successful in contacting individual members of Congress and informing them of the issues affecting Hellenism. Carolyn has been an active participant and in 1989 took part in the Women Walk Home March in Cyprus. In 1984, Aris and Carolyn made a donation to the Saint Sophia Foundation for the construction of a Senior Citizen Home. The donation, which by 1993 had reached close to one million dollars, was pooled with a donation from the Philoptochos and The Senior Citizen’s Home in honor of Archbishop Makarios was built next to the Cathedral.
Aris and his wife Carolyn had been very active in the peace and human rights movement for the Central American countries of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. In the summer of 1989, Aris and Carolyn Anagnos donated one million dollars to Nicaragua for humanitarian, educational and relief purposes and for building a housing project for amputated and blinded Sandinista soldiers. Aris was awarded the Commandante Enrique Schmitt Medal, the highest Sandinista award for non Nicaraguans.
In 1989, Aris and Carolyn established the Peace Center at 8124 West Third Street, Los Angeles, which housed many peace and human rights organizations rent-free. In 2008 Aris formally donated the building for this use, by establishing it as a non-profit foundation. In 2013 the Aris and Carolyn Anagnos Peace Center Foundation sold its building and purchased the 15,000 square foot building located at 3916 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, currently housing the America Hellenic Council and the American Hellenic Council Charitable Fund in addition to many peace, justice, and human rights organizations. The meeting rooms also allow for countless community organizations to hold meetings and events at the Peace Center.