Spring 2009 - Seattle University

Predestined Profession
Whether he’s imparting career pointers or mentoring
a college student, Nick Arvanitidis offers a simple, but
direct, message: Do what you love.
“Choose the right thing to do, and let money be the
result of how well you are doing, not why are you doing
it,” say Arvanitidis, the 2009 Alumnus of the Year.
He speaks from experience.
Born in Komotini, Greece, Arvanitidis arrived in Seattle
in 1959 and started classes at Seattle University. There
was little question about what he would study. “I was
preordained to go into engineering,” Arvanitidis says.
“When you came from Greece [in the 1950s], you went
into science or engineering.”
After he earned his electrical engineering degree he
was off to Stanford University for his graduate work.
The quality education he received at SU prepared him for
the academic rigors of Stanford and a peer group of
some of science and engineering’s brightest young minds.
“Seattle University was a very cozy environment but very
tough,” he says.
In 1968, after he finished his PhD from Stanford,
Arvanitidis launched Intasa, Inc., a think tank that offered
consultation on management of natural resources and
public policy issues such as the Clean Air Act. But by age 40
he was looking for a change. With two scientist friends he
co-founded SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals, formerly Liposome
Technology, in 1981. Until 1995 he served as board
chairman and CEO of the company, which developed a
drug used in the treatment of breast and ovarian cancers,
and an antifungal drug for infections.
An early influence in Arvanitidis’ life was Father Frank
Wood, who taught electrical engineering at the university.
In 2006 Arvanitidis created an endowed scholarship at SU
named for Fr. Wood, who Arvanitidis says was “the heart
and soul of electrical engineering.”
Being named Alumnus of the Year is a great honor, he
says. “I am very grateful for what SU did for me. This is
very humbling.”
—Tina Potterf
Alu m n u s of th e Year
Nick Arvanitidis, ’63
20 | Winning Combination