Angelo Tsakopoulos, Sacramentan of the Year

“At 21, Angelo had already stockpiled experiences likely unfathomable to many of the undergraduates smiling from the yearbook pages around him… and he had begun laying the groundwork for his future as Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, arguably the most significant force to shape Sacramento since John Sutter.” The Sacramento Bee, March 12, 2006

Angelo K. Tsakopoulos is a Northern California businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of AKT Development Corporation, AKT Investments Inc., and various affiliated entities. The companies hold interests in real estate, farming, ranching, water and minerals, building and land development projects throughout Northern and Central California.

AKT, which Mr. Tsakopoulos continues to own and operate with his children, is one of the most accomplished and respected land development organizations in northern California.  Over the course of three decades, AKT has shaped the contours of nearly every major growth frontier in the Sacramento region. Today, over 60,000 homes and 30 million square feet of office, commercial and industrial space have been developed on property owned and managed by AKT. A passionate farmer and rancher, Tsakopoulos continues to be one of California’s largest producers of walnuts and rice. 

Mr. Tsakopoulos immigrated to the United States from the Peloponnesian village of Rizes, Greece, in 1951 at the age of 15.  After finishing high school in Lodi, California, where he also worked as a farm worker, he enrolled at California State University in Sacramento to study history and business.  In 1998, he received an honorary doctorate of jurisprudence from McGeorge School of Law, and in 1998, an honorary doctorate in humane letters from CSUS and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California State University system.  

Angelo, his wife Sofia, and the Tsakopoulos children are acknowledged regularly among the major philanthropists in the Sacramento region. They have donated land for schools, universities, hospitals, art galleries and senior citizens’ facilities. They were among the founding families of the M.I.N.D.  Institute at U.C. Davis, and have provided substantial support to such institutions as The United Way, The American Lung Associates, St. Hope Academy, the Roseville Arts Center, Jesuit High School and the Roseville Folsom Historical Museum.  Mr. Tsakopoulos is a founding member of the Sacramento Tree Foundation, and is a chief sponsor of the Catholic Inner City Educational Program (SUCCEED).  He is the recipient of the Sacramento Regional Excellence Award and the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Community Service Award.

Of all his philanthropic and educational pursuits, none has engaged Angelo Tsakopoulos more than advancing the principles of American democracy, and their roots within the Hellenic ideals.  He established the Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism, and later donated its 70,000 volume library to CSUS. He founded the Western Policy Center in Washington, D.C., which he later re-established within the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2007, Mr. Tsakopoulos was awarded the Great Cross of the Order of Honor in Athens by Greek President Karolos Papoulias, on behalf of the Hellenic Republic, for his philanthropic vision in founding the Western Policy Center. 

Angelo Tsakopoulos has supported numerous important organizations and efforts to promote Hellenism throughout the United States and around the world, and encouraged his children to endow university chairs in Hellenic studies at Georgetown, Columbia and Stanford. He is married to Sofia L. Tsakopoulos and has six adult children, twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.