Kamal A. Shair Dies

It was with deep sorrow that AUB announced the death of Kamal A. Shair, member of the AUB Board of Trustees, who passed away on August 21 at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Chair of the AUB Campaign for Excellence, Shair was an AUB trustee in the fullest sense of the word by actively fundraising and personally contributing to AUB, which was of equal importance to him as was his global multimillion-dollar corporation, Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners).

Born in Salt, Jordan, in 1930, Shair's history at AUB dates back to when he was a college student. He spent two years studying at AUB before he moved to the University of Michigan, where he received a BS and an MS in engineering in 1949 and 1950 respectively. In 1955, he received his PhD in engineering from Yale University, after which he returned to Beirut to become in 1956 the founding senior partner and managing director of Dar Al-Handasah Consultants.

Shair was an assistant professor of engineering at AUB from 1956-58 and then was promoted to associate professor of engineering (1958-1962). He served as a member of the AUB Board of Trustees from 1990 until his death. Shair headed the University Campaign for Excellence, which was launched in 2002 and by 2006-07 exceeded its target goal of $140 million by raising more than $170 million.

Shair's generous contributions to AUB include a private donation to AUB's Center for Advanced Mathematical Sciences in 2002; a major fund to start the Kamal Shair Strategic Leadership Executive Program at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business in 2007; a $1.5 million donation to build the Dar Al-Handasah Shair and Partners Architecture Building; and the Kamal A. Shair Central Research Science Laboratory, whose dedication took place on October 3, 2007; a $2.5 million fund to support doctoral research in engineering and architecture; and major donations to the Fingerprints Fund in the years 2002, 2003, and 2004. Shair was the keynote speaker during AUB's 134th commencement exercises in June 2003.

Shair is the author of Out of the Middle East: the Emergence of an Arab Global Business (IB Taurus, 2006). The book is an autobiography, which recounts Shair's life journey from a modest background to creating a multinational corporation engaged in trade, construction, and manufacturing.

Shair was a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University; a member of the Board of Advisers of the World Bank; and a member of the Board of Advisers of the MENA region, World Bank. Shair also served as vice president of the Jordan Development Board (1962); governor of the World Bank on behalf of Jordan (1962); chair of the Board of Directors, Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. (1967); member of the Jordan Senate (1989-2001); head of the Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs, Jordan Senate (1993-2001); and chair of the Board of Directors, Palestine Development and Investment Co. (1994-1998).

He received a number of prestigious awards, including the First Order of Independence Medal, Jordan (1968); the National Cedar Medal, Lebanon (1983); Lebanese Order of Merit, Lebanon (2001); the AUB Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Distinguished University Alumnus Award; and the Alumni Engineering and Architecture Chapter of AUB Century Merit Award (2001).

Deep condolences are extended by all in the AUB community to Shair's wife Laura and her family.