Fuad Ishak Khuri
AUB’s Pioneer Anthropologist

After a long illness, Fuad Ishak Khuri died on May 4, 2003. He was 68. Typical of his diligent character, Professor Khuri had continued to work despite his failing health. He persisted in conducting anthropological fieldwork to collect data, and when he was no longer strong enough to write his notes, his wife Sonia, an AUB graduate, would accompany him to write them for him. In press now is his last and final book, Being a Druze, a study on the Druze community in Syria.
Khuri earned his BA and MA degrees from AUB and his PhD in social anthropology from the University of Oregon. He joined the AUB faculty as an instructor in 1964 and by 1978 had risen to the rank of full professor, holding a tenured appointment. Professor Khuri served several terms as chairperson of the Departments of Sociology and the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences during his 23 years of academic service to AUB.
In 1987, when living conditions worsened during the war, Professor Khuri resigned his position at AUB and left Lebanon to settle in Reading, England, from where he helped his long-time friend and classmate Issam Fares in the management of the Issam Fares Foundation. After a five-year period as the foundation’s director (1987-92), Khuri devoted himself entirely to academic research and lecturing. During his lifetime, he published 17 books and monographs, as well as some 40 articles on various aspects of Arab culture.
Professor Khuri was a creative thinker and a provocative and original researcher, always genuinely seeking to resolve intellectual problems. His two early books, published by the University of Chicago Press—From Village to Suburb (1975) and Tribe and State in Bahrain (1980)—are considered pioneering anthropological studies. In later works, he explored the minorities of Islam in radical and innovative ways—as in his book, Imams and Emirs (2002), which presents a novel discussion of state, religion, and sects in Islam.
Professor Khuri was a pioneer in exploring areas of Arab culture seldom addressed previously in a scholarly and coherent fashion. His more recent books serve as examples: The Body in Islamic Culture (2001), which investigates the concept of the body in Islam, showing how meanings and images concerning the human form influence religious and social attitudes; and Tents and Pyramids (1990), which discusses games and ideology in Arab culture.
Professor Fuad Khuri is survived by his wife Sonia, his daughter Sawsan, and his son Fawaz.
Anwar Hakim (BA ’48) died on June 19 in Chicago, Illinois. He was 80. Born in Damascus, Hakim studied at AUB and in 1950 received his PhD in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In the early 1950s, he taught for a few years at the University of California, Berkeley, but spent most of his professional life as a scientist. After marrying in Switzerland, he and his wife moved to England, where he conducted cancer research at the University of Leeds. Shortly after, they moved to Miami, Florida, where he worked for the Children’s Memorial Hospital. In the early 1960s, Dr. Hakim was employed by the Armour Pharmaceuticals Company, for which he patented several drugs. For many of the years that followed, he was associated with the University of Illinois Medical Center, where he conducted cancer research, taught physiology, and trained future physicians. An active academic, Dr. Hakim contributed articles to numerous journals and participated in many conferences, even after his retirement. A humble man who always avoided talking about his illustrious career, he used to jokingly say he “swept the halls of the Art Institute” for a living. Hakim is survived by his wife, Paula, a daughter, and a son.
Reverend Assadour Sadakian (BA ‘37) died on July 8 in San Francisco. He was 96. A survivor of the Armenian genocide, he received his theological education from the Near East School of Theology in Beirut while completing his BA in philosophy and theology at AUB. Reverend Sadakian married Angele Shnorhokian in 1941, after which he served as a pastor, principal, and teacher in Antioch, Lebanon, and Syria. In 1975, the Sadakians moved to San Francisco. He is survived by his wife Angele and his five children, Avedis, Rosalie, Grace, Jacqueline, and Hagop.
Andre “Andy” Saliba (BS ‘57, MS ‘61), surrounded by his loved ones, lost a valiant fight to cancer on June 9, 2003, in San Francisco, California. Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, Andy grew up in Lebanon, and after completing his studies at AUB, worked with the Plan Vert program of the Lebanese government. A lover and protector of nature, Andy contributed much to the natural beauty of Lebanon through his innate skills and broad experience in horticulture. The many assignments that took him abroad to other countries developed in him a keen interest in other cultures. He had an enduring passion for Italian music and was an ardent lover of sports and the arts. A wonderful husband to Nelly (Homsi), a great father to Paul and George, Andy truly touched the lives of all who knew him. He personified the ultimate definition of friendship—caring, giving, faithful, and totally selfless. His last thoughts were for all those he loved and would leave behind…and for the blessed beauty of Lebanon that had given him so much joy. Andy will be deeply missed by all.
John Warren Smith (BA ‘59, MA ‘74) of Fort Collins, Colorado, died on May 8, 2003, after a two-year struggle against cancer. He grew up in Colorado and served in the US Army from 1961 to 1963 in Amberg, Germany. Before and after his military service, he studied at AUB, where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He also pursued graduate studies at Colorado State University. After a year of teaching sociology and economics in Nebraska, Smith took a position in Iraq that involved developing more efficient crop and livestock production through improved irrigation systems management. This launched him on a life-long career that combined his knowledge of social structures and four languages with practical agricultural skills and agricultural technology. Smith managed agricultural systems as a regional representative of ACDI/VOCA in the Middle East and North Africa. Over the last 20 years, he consulted on USAID projects in the Middle East and Africa, and in South and Southeast Asia. He will always be remembered by family and friends for his cheerful character and great love for playing and listening to music. He is survived by his wife Marilou, two daughters, and one son.
Beatrice Taft (BS ‘47) died July 12, 2003, in Indianapolis, Indiana. After receiving her undergraduate degree at AUB, Taft continued with her studies to earn a nursing degree from the University of Chicago in 1952, a degree in midwifery from the New York Maternity Center Association in 1953, and a master’s in social science and education psychology from the University of Chicago in 1959. During her years of service in the nursing profession, she taught at or served as a nurse at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the Yale University School of Nursing. She then became a professor in the Department of Nursing at Berea College in Kentucky; and finally, before her retirement, she was a professor at the School of Nursing of the University of Indiana. She was the widow of Markus Taft.