When Petros Tatanis founded the “National Herald” on April 2, 1915, he certainly did not imagine that a Greek newspaper in the United States would last for more than a century. But the National Herald has endured for 108 years

Personally, in the 33 years that I have been a member of the newspaper’s journalistic family, I never cease to wonder and be amazed The years pass, the decades pass, the world changes, but the “National Herald” is always here in the service of the Greek community

However, this year is a milestone year Now in its ^108th year, the newspaper is being published three times a week while pushing forward with efforts to provide full and continuous online coverage on its two websites

I do, however, remember all the big changes From typesetting to linotype machines and from there to offset and then to computers

From the old private offices in Long Island City to the current ones closer to Astoria And the vision of full access to the Internet with constant changes of improvement Efforts that never stop

The driving force is the vision for better information for the Greek community and Hellenism that has been a permanent feature of long-time Publisher/Director and current Publishing Consultant Antonis H. Diamamataris He has always envisioned tomorrow and how this News Media can best serve the Hellenes

And it is amazing to see his children grow up, embrace his dream, and act in unity together for a better tomorrow for the newspaper, online information and service to the Diaspora

From a personal point of view, it is true, and I mention it often, along with a dose of pride, that when I started working at the paper 33 years ago in New York City, coming from Chicago, I did not know the magnitude of the responsibility that would fall to me But I had an instinct And with my poor background in journalism, I had no experience I had only a longing for the profession Gradually but rapidly I realized that if I wanted to establish myself I had to listen to the advice of my elders And that’s what I did.

In time, I came to understand a great deal I learned to respect the reader without hiding from him.

And I repeat: no newspaper can survive, even with its own funding, with its own resources, if it does not have a proper line and a specific objective.

Of course, the previous editors have had their share of praise Alas However, it is Mr. A Diamataris, who, as the longest serving Editor Director, has adapted the paper, its progress, its development to modern times and its longevity I have emphasized this He didn’t put the paper in his life, but his life in the paper He saw it as a service to national interests, as a voice of the homogeneity in the great America, as a beacon of Hellenism And even on all five continents, now that the Internet is going everywhere

He hasn’t regressed an inch in 46 years of sitting behind a desk and thinking And thankfully now he has his children to debate with him, to interact with him, to learn alongside him