Spring 2009 Vol. VII, No. 3

In Memoriam

James William Cowan, former dean and AUB interim president, passed away January 18 at Shady Grove Hospital in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Before retiring in July l996, Cowan was director emeritus and an administrator of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

Born in 1930 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, into a small dairy farm family, Cowan was educated at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania, earning his PhD in animal nutrition in 1961. His specialty as a researcher was in diet and food sciences.

Cowan joined the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (now FAFS) at AUB in 1961 and was appointed dean of the faculty in 1973. He also served as interim president of AUB from 1975 to 1977. Cowan had a keen knowledge of the region and was respected and admired by faculty, staff, and students.  He subsequently returned to the United States and lived in Bethesda, Maryland and later, in Rosslyn, Virginia.

George Frederick Miller, Jr. died on April 2 at the age of 86. He held a BA from the University of Oklahoma, a BD from the University of Chicago, and a MEd from Harvard University. He was an ordained minister in both the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ. From 1946 to 1966, Miller held a number of administrative positions at Aleppo College including dean of students and acting president. From 1966 to 1986, he worked at AUB as the director of the Office of Tests and Measurements and university chaplain. He was a member of the Boards of Trustees of the Near East School of Theology and the American Community School. Miller also wrote a regular column as theater and music critic for Monday Morning, an English-language weekly magazine, and was treasurer for Community Church.

From 1986 until his passing, Miller served as docent and genealogist at the Campbell Mansion at Bethany College. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Siham Kara-Elias Miller; three sons and their wives, eight grandchildren, a sister, and a sister-in-law.

Alumni

Nadim Dimechkie (BA ’40, MA ’55), one of Lebanon’s distinguished diplomats, died on March 31 at the age of 88. In his memorial remarks, President Dorman described Dimechkie as heroic and brave and commended him for his pivotal roles in establishing scholarship aid, rebuilding College Hall, and serving as an AUB trustee.

Dimechkie was active in the preparatory sessions for the United Nations Organization in 1945, and represented Lebanon at the General Assembly of the United Nations from 1957 to 1974. He served as ambassador to the United States and to England’s Court of St. James. Dimechkie participated in delegations to several international bodies, served as vice president of the UN General Assembly, and as director-general of the Ministry of Economy, in addition to holding several positions in the banking and economic sectors. Throughout his life, he received decorations and medals from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, the UK, and Greece. In 2006 he was awarded AUB’s President’s Medal for Outstanding Voluntary Service.

Dimechkie is survived by his wife, Margaret; two sons, Ramez, Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany, and Riad, the director of the Executive MBA Program at AUB. Condolences can be sent to Riad Dimechkie at rd28@aub.edu.lb

Alice Apelian Tootikian
(Nursing Diploma ’44) passed away in her sleep in Tarzana, California at the age of 96. Born in Kessab, Syria, Tootikian was a devoted alumna of AUB’s School of Nursing (now the Rafic Hariri School of Nursing) and worked as a

registered nurse at AUB’s hospital after graduation. Tootikian will be missed by a close-knit network of families and friends. Funeral services were held at the Church of the Hills Sanctuary, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood, California, on January 26.

Anton Khalil Dabdoub (MD ’48) was born in 1919 and died on March 30 in Bethlehem, Palestine. Dabdoub worked at the International Red Cross in Palestinian refugee camps.

In 1952 he joined a Swiss-German priest, Father Ernest Shnydrig, and a Swiss volunteer, Heddy Vetter, to found the Caritas Baby Hospital which remains the sole pediatric hospital in Palestine with over 82 beds. In addition to his work at Caritas, Dabdoub was the founder and director of a number of Palestinian welfare agencies and societies including the Society for Mental
Health (Bethlehem), Friends of the Patient Society (Bethlehem), Aid to the Aged Society (Jerusalem), the Eye Care Center (Bethlehem), and the Swedish International Relief Agency for Epileptic Children (Bethlehem).

He served as the assistant director of the Government Mental Hospital (Bethlehem), and as the vice chairman, and later member, of the Board of Trustees of the Bethlehem Arab Society for the Physically Handicapped (Bethlehem). Dabdoub is survived by his wife of 60 years Paulette Tissaire, four children, 11 grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

Muhammad Yusuf Najm (BA ’46, MA ’48) passed away March 7. Born in Palestine in 1925, Muhammad Najm’s academic career spanned more than half a century. He received his PhD in Arabic language and literature from Fouad Al-Awwal University in Cairo in 1954.

He taught Arabic language and literature at AUB for more than 25 years, and taught students at Harvard and Kuwait Universities in the 1960s and 1970s. At AUB he served as professor of Arabic literature from 1964 to 1990 and was named professor emeritus in 1992.

His literary legacy lies in his numerous published works, primarily on Arabic theater, fiction, and modern Arabic poetry as well as literary criticism. He is the author of The Play in Arabic Literature and Al-Mounsef (The Novel in Arabic Literature).

Frequently honored, he received the Arab League Cultural Department’s Prize for Literary Studies in 1956 and 1958, and the prestigious King Faysal International Prize for Arabic Literature. Inquiries may be sent to sabulhuda@hotmail.com.

Fawzi Maalouf (BBA ’48) member of the AUB Student Scholarship Fund Committee and former vice president and later president of the AUB Alumni Association (1973-95) passed away on February. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

Kamal R. Haffar (BA ’51) arrived at AUB in 1948 from Brummana High School. He was a star athlete who garnered a collection of medals in the javelin throw, discus, broad jump, and triple jump during his three years at AUB. 

After graduating with a degree in English literature, he enrolled at the University of California Davis and completed a two-year course in agriculture and agronomy. In 1952, he returned to Syria, where he established a model fruit and poultry farm south of Damascus. It would be his lifelong career.

In 1954 he married classmate Najwa Shaheen (BA ’51). Haffar passed away December 26, 2008. He is survived by his second wife and three children, Rifat (former student ’73-’76), Omar (BS ’78), and Dana (BA ’81).

Vartkes L. Broussalian (former student and faculty), PhD, of Granada Hills, California, died peacefully on February 22, two days before his 81st birthday. He studied and taught at AUB in the mid-1950s. Broussalian was known as a brilliant economist and public policy adviser. He trained at the London School of Economics and UCLA and held senior-level positions in various branches of the United States government, most notably at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he served for 20 years. He also taught and conducted research at several major universities including Duke, UCLA, and the American University of Armenia. Broussalian was one of the original founders of the Armenian Assembly of America.

He was devoted to his immediate and large, extended family. Inquiries may be made to ctusan@sgadvisors.com.

Kassem Jaafar (BA ’78) passed away February 24. Jaffar graduated from AUB with honors in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. He then went to Kings College in London to pursue a doctorate in war studies. He remained in England, working for BBC World and Arabic Services as a reporter, editor, and commentator. He also worked for Al-Hayat, the weekly magazine Al-Wasat, and New TV in Beirut. He served for ten years with the Foreign Ministry in Qatar during which time (2002-06) he was a member of the Board of Governors of Al-Jazeera TV.

Khaled M. Seoud (BS '08) 1987-2008. See notice in MainGate Winter 2009.