When the IFJ held its last Annual Meeting and Executive Committee in Athens in April 2023, Fani Petralia made a point of being there to welcome its leadership.
Born in 1935 in Pyrgos Ilias, Fani Petralia was a graduate of the Department of English Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Athens and also spoke Italian and French.
Petralia’s career in journalism began in February 1960, when she started work as an editor at the magazine "GYNAIKA", then as editor-in-chief. From July 1975, she worked at the newspaper "ELEFTHEROTYPIA" and then at the newspaper "TA NEA", as editor-in-chief. She was also editor-in-chief of ERT broadcasts.
In addition to her journalistic career, Fani Petralia has fought passionately for the rights of journalists in the media. She was a member of JUADN’s board from 1988 to 2011. In 2001, she was the first woman to be elected Vice-Chair of the Board. Since 1998 and the setting up of JUADN Education Foundation, she has been continuously elected as a member of its Board of Directors and has held the position of Secretary since 2010.
In a release commemorating Petralia, JUADN saluted “a person with special sensibilities, a strong social conscience and a clear political position, who was particularly concerned with minorities, women's emancipation, the unemployed and underpaid colleagues.” JUADN praised a strong comrade who was known for “her kindness, gentleness, morals, sweetness of character, broad education and deep culture.
Since joining the JUADN board, Fani has been involved in the union's international relations, attending dozens of IFJ conferences and developing close contacts with many journalists' unions around the world. Fani Petralia was also a member of the IFJ Gender Council for many years and was one of the organisers of the IFJ World Congress in Athens in 2004.
The IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: “On behalf of the IFJ, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the President of JUADN, Maria Antoniadou, and to the Board of Directors. Fani was one of the major Greek trade union figures and her contribution is immense. Her thoughts had long been on the IFJ Centenary, which will take place in Paris in 2026. At the IFJ’s Congress in Tunis, in 2019, Fani presented me with the first letter from the French union, sent in 1925 to all the unions in the world, calling for the creation of the IFJ. Fani was as committed to Greek journalism as she was to international solidarity. She will be sorely missed.”