John Avlon

Avlon in 2012, photo by Meenween

Birth Name: John Phillips Avlon

Place of Birth: Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.

Date of Birth: January 19, 1973

Ethnicity:
*75% Greek
*25% mix of Scottish and English

John Avlon is an American journalist, political commentator, writer, anchor, and politician. He was editor-in-chief and managing director of the website The Daily Beast, and has appeared on CNN.

He is married to Margaret Hoover, a political commentator, whose great-grandfather was U.S. President Herbert Hoover. The couple has two children.

John’s paternal grandfather was John Avlon (the son of George Avlon and Eddna Flessl). John’s grandfather John was from the island Corfu, Greece.

John’s paternal grandmother was Carol Jeffries (the daughter of Herbert Ottley Jeffries and Eva Geraldine Lang). Carol was born in New York. Herbert was the son of Thomas Jeffries and Susana Reynolds. Eva was born in San Jose, Costa Rica, the daughter of a Canadian father, Robert Lang, from Roussillon, and an American mother, Eveline “Eva” Chandler.

John’s maternal grandfather is Alexander Konstantine Phillips (the son of Konstantine Alexander Phillips and Dionisia Stamatakis). John’s great-grandfather Konstantine was born in Samos, Greece. Dionisia was from Istanbul, Turkey, and was also of Greek descent.

John’s maternal grandmother is named Toula Pearl Carvelas.

Sources: John’s article about his family history, A Grandchild Of an Illegal Immigrant, 2006 – http://www.nysun.com

Obituaries of John’s maternal great-grandparents, Konstantine Alexander Phillips and Dionisia (Stamatakis) Phillips – http://www.findagrave.com