It was around 1997. I was a young engineer taking my first steps in the profession and still finding my feet. Pavlos Michailidis said to me, “Let me introduce you to a good man who can show you a few things.” That’s how I came to open your office door and meet you.
From the very beginning we shared the same roots: we came from the same village, Pontokomi. You welcomed me with that warm, open smile of yours and asked first, “Whose family are you from?” When you introduced yourself, you said, “I grew up in Kozani.” Then, as if you’d known me all your life, you added, “Don’t worry. I’m here for you.”
I had an engineering study on my hands that was so difficult I couldn’t see any way to finish it. I can still hear your voice lifting that weight off me: “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Don’t let it get you down, my boy. I’ll sort it all out.” You sat down, patiently completed the whole study from start to finish and wouldn’t take a single euro for your trouble. No matter how much I insisted, you would say, “You’re young. Take it, and we’ll sort it out someday.”
Of course, you never asked for anything in return. You didn’t keep score when it came to kindness. All you ever asked was that, wherever I found myself, I do what I could to help our region.
You never stopped caring about our region or our profession. Time and again you came to our meetings, committees and discussions, and spoke plainly about what should be done and what shouldn’t, backing up your views with sound technical reasoning. You never raised your voice or pushed an agenda. You spoke with the honesty of an engineer who knew his work inside out.
I remember how often you came to me, worried about getting mechanical and electrical engineers more involved. “If Aris and I step down, there won’t be an association left. The younger people need to take the lead,” you’d tell me. We’d get on the phone together and call friends and colleagues one by one. Thanks to your tireless commitment and that of Aris Afentoulidis, the Association of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers of Western Macedonia stayed alive and active.
In 2013, when we set out on the long uphill road with the “Dynamic TEE Western Macedonia” slate, you came to me and said without a second thought, “Go ahead, my boy. I’m with you.”
I asked you, “Are you sure, Thodoros?”
And you replied in that familiar way of yours, “Yes, as long as you keep party politics out of it and press on so we can help our region. I’m a conservative,” you’d tell me. “There are some things I like to see done properly.” And I’d laugh.
Where do I begin, Thodoros… Those evenings when you’d come up to the offices of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), open the door after a long day and say, “Pour us a whisky and let’s talk.” You knew I didn’t drink, but you’d smile and say, “Never mind. I do.” We’d sit for hours in the quiet of the office at night, talking about what we should do for the Chamber, our colleagues and Western Macedonia.
Throughout your years of service, whether as Secretary General of the Assembly of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section or during three consecutive terms on its Disciplinary Council, you always saw to it that things were done “properly”: with restraint, fairness, integrity and humanity.
Thank you for everything, Thodoros. You didn’t want to go. You fought your battle bravely and quietly, and you leave behind a wonderful family.
The last time we managed to see each other in person was in Patras, a few months after our children had been accepted to university there. We were both so proud to see them spreading their wings. And then, just a few days ago, on my name day, you called me from the hospital. You could hardly speak, yet you found the strength to call just to wish your friend a happy name day.
Where do I even begin, my dear Thodoros… All I can say from the depths of my heart is how deeply sorry I am. I feel that today I’ve lost someone very close to me, a friend who was like a brother, a living part of my own past.
I felt I had to write these things down and share them. We sometimes say we carry our memories within us, but some are worth setting down. That’s how we keep alive the people we knew and walked alongside, as if they were still here with us, in that office at the Chamber late in the evening.
In memory of Thodoros Kotsidis
For Thodoros Kotsidis, an exceptional, honest man with a ready smile, an accomplished engineer and, above all, someone who meant so much to our region and to the engineers of Western Macedonia. I was honoured and fortunate to have him in my life and to call him my friend.
Farewell, Thodoros. You’ll live on in us, in the memories we shared and in all you taught us through your kindness.
Dimitris Mavromatidis
Appendix: Theodoros E. Kotsidis’s three decades of professional and institutional service at the Technical Chamber of Greece in Western Macedonia (1995–2026)
Theodoros (Thodoros) Kotsidis, son of Evangelos and Sofia (TEE registration no. 63232), came from Pontokomi, Kozani. He was a qualified mechanical engineer and practised independently in Kozani for more than three decades. He was active in the Western Macedonia Section of the Technical Chamber of Greece and in professional engineering organisations for 31 years without interruption, from 1995 to 2026:
- 19 July 1995 – First recorded representation of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section in the Kozani district heating project: The Section appointed him as its alternate representative, with Alexandros Kandiliotis as full member, to the “Committee to Recommend the Award of the Kozani District Heating Phase II and III Contracts.” He contributed during one of the most critical stages in the development of Kozani’s district heating network.
- 2006 Technical Chamber of Greece elections: He stood for the first time for the Assembly of the Western Macedonia Regional Section in Kozani Prefecture, on the “Active Engineers of Western Macedonia” slate.
- 25 April 2010 Technical Chamber of Greece elections: He stood for the second time for the Assembly of the Western Macedonia Section in Kozani Prefecture, on the “Active Engineers of Western Macedonia” slate.
- 24 November 2013 Technical Chamber of Greece elections – Founding member of “Dynamic TEE Western Macedonia” and election to the Section’s Assembly: He joined the independent “Dynamic TEE Western Macedonia” slate, led by Dimitris Mavromatidis, from its founding and ran in the Kozani Regional Unit. He was elected to the Assembly of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section.
- 2014–2016 – Secretary General of the Assembly of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section: At the Assembly’s first special session on 28 February 2014, he was elected Secretary General of the Assembly, with Maria Tsiompanou as President and Grigorios Mavridis as Vice President. On 1 April 2014, he co-signed the official act proclaiming the Presidium and the members of the Section’s Executive Committee for the 2014–2016 term (ref. no. 335/02-04-2014).
- 2015 – Secretary of the Western Macedonia branch of the Panhellenic Association of Qualified Mechanical and Electrical Engineers (PSDMH): He served the profession as Secretary of the Board of the Association’s Western Macedonia branch, chaired by Dr Aristidis Afentoulidis. He took a leading role in renewing the Association and bringing younger qualified engineers into its work.
- 28 May 2015 – Representing the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section on road and rail infrastructure design committees: The Section appointed him as its representative (ref. nos. 411/28-05-2015 and 412/28-05-2015) to the two design tender committees for “Improvement of the alignment of a section of the Kozani–Thessaloniki National Road at the OSE railway bridge” and “Improvement of the alignment of a section of the Kozani–Larissa National Road at the OSE railway bridge.”
- 2016–2020 – Full member of the Disciplinary Council of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section (first term): In the elections of 20 November 2016, he stood for the Disciplinary Council on the “Dynamic TEE Western Macedonia” slate and was elected full member of the Council, which was formally constituted on 17 November 2017.
- 2019–2024 – Full member of the Disciplinary Council of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section (second consecutive term): In the elections of 3 November 2019, he again stood on the “Dynamic TEE Western Macedonia” slate (candidacy proclaimed on 26 September 2019, ref. no. 938/27-09-2019). He was re-elected full member of the Section’s Disciplinary Council, which was formally constituted on 6 October 2020.
- 2024–2026 – Third consecutive election to the First-Instance Disciplinary Council of the Chamber’s Western Macedonia Section: In the elections of 19 May 2024, he stood on the Section’s ballots for the sixth consecutive election and for the fourth consecutive time with “Dynamic TEE Western Macedonia”, led by Paraskevi (Voula) Christopoulou. The slate finished first and Theodoros Kotsidis was elected alternate member of the First-Instance Disciplinary Council, a position he held until his death.