PASOK leader Androulakis honours Fofi Gennimata at memorial five years after her death

The memorial service

Relatives, party officials and former colleagues gathered at the First Athens Cemetery on Sunday, 25 October 2026, for a memorial marking five years since the death of Fofi Gennimata. The service was held at midday. Gennimata died at Evangelismos hospital in Athens at the age of 56, and the anniversary coincided with World Breast Cancer Day. Early in the day, her husband, Andreas Tsounis, and her son, Giorgos Gennimatas-Tsounis, placed flowers on her grave. Among those present were Haris Doukas, Anna Diamantopoulou, Pavlos Christidis, Giannis Vardakastanis, Andreas Spyropoulos and Kostas Skandalidis, alongside PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis.

Her son addressed the gathering in a statement that described his mother's public and private conduct in terms of three values.

“Today we honour with love and emotion the memory of our mother, Fofi Gennimata, a woman who gave substance to three great values: humanity, ethics and dignity.”

For the family, she will always be their mother, and the dignity, ethics and humanity she showed in politics and in life will remain a lasting legacy.

Androulakis's tribute

Nikos Androulakis, who attended the service, stressed Gennimata's decisive role in keeping the party united and politically present during one of the hardest periods in its history. He said the party misses her creative stubbornness, which had kept it standing. The groundwork she laid, he said, allows the party to seek a leading role again today.

“Fofi Gennimata is missed very much. We miss her creative stubbornness, which kept PASOK standing under very difficult conditions.”

He added that her ethos, humanity and dignity are missed as well. Androulakis said he would remember her with love and gratitude and keep her political legacy alive.

Tributes from colleagues

Pavlos Christidis, her collaborator, marked the anniversary with a post in which he chose four words to describe her: courage, strength, self-sacrifice and selflessness. He wrote that she put 'we' above 'I' and called the party 'our home'. Five years on, he wrote that 'we miss her very much'. Many party officials and comrades also attended the service, according to the reports, which describe the gathering as an emotional occasion.

Political legacy in commentary

A column published the same morning argued that her political record deserves assessment on its own terms, beyond personal tributes. It described her taking the helm of a battered party in the summer of 2015, facing the rise of SYRIZA and the New Democracy of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The column said she was often portrayed as sympathetic and hardworking but in need of a politician with greater reach for the hardest decisions. It also said that her surname, and the political heritage of Giorgos Gennimatas, was often used to question what she achieved. According to the column, her record should be judged against the political environment of 2015 rather than a simple comparison of electoral percentages.