Alec Issigonis
Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS, RDI was a British designer of cars, widely noted for the groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959.
Issigonis was born in 1906 into the Greek cosmopolitan community of the Greek port Smyrna in Asia Minor. The son of Greek and German parents, he inherited British citizenship via his father and developed very English attitudes. His grandfather Demosthenis migrated to Smyrna from Paros in Greece in the 1830s and through the work he did for the Britishbuilt SmyrnaAydn Railway managed to acquire British nationality. Demostheniss son Constantine Issigonis , was born, with British nationality, in Smyrna in 1872. Constantine studied in England. Alecs mother, Hulda Prokopp, could trace her origins back to Wrttemberg . It was through his mothers kinships that Issigonis was a first cousin once removed to BMW director Bernd Pischetsrieder.
Source: Wikipedia