Vale George Zangalis

The CBAA would like to join the sector in marking the passing of George Zangalis who passed away on Thursday, 25 March.

Born in Greece in 1931, George came to Australia in February 1950 and immediately became involved in the working class and progressive organisations in the Greek community, the wider Australian labour movement, and the fledgling multicultural campaigns, all of which lead to his lengthy involvement with ethnic community broadcasting as part of Melbourne's 3ZZZ. 

George was involved with 3ZZZ from their very first planning meeting on 4 October 1974 and was active in the station for decades after. His contributions to 3ZZZ, as well as ethnic broadcasting in general as part of his role as President of the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council of Australia (NEMBC) are too numerous to mention. Suffice to say, George will be greatly missed and his contribution to community broadcasting, as well as all of the other work he put into the community, cannot be understated. 

He died ahead of a tribute to his life organised for 25 April at the Andrianakos Room at the Greek Community Hall of Alphington Grammar.

His family has requested that instead of wreaths, people contribute to the George Zangalis (GZ) Memorial Account to digitise and make public the myriad documentation about his life and tireless work for the community.