He was the son of Loukas Kanakaris-Roufos and a member of the Rouphos family that descended from Sicily and the rest of southern Italy and were politicians from Patras and Achaea.

He made diplomatic representations in Vienna in Nicosia and in Paris.

He took part in the Greek resistance but in 1967 with the arrival of the Regime of the Colonels that took power until 1974, Rodis Kanakaris lost his place.

He died in Kolonaki in Athens in 1972 and had two sons, including Loukas (1949- ) who became a lawyer, and Athanassios (1952- ) who is a musician.

During his lifetime, he wrote several works with his pseudonym Rodis Provelengios or Proveleggios (Ρόδης Προβελέγγιος).