Summer 2008 Vol. VI, No. 4

In Memoriam

Faculty and Friends

Nancy Malek, MD, instructor of clinical pediatrics and full-time member of the Department of Pediatrics, passed away suddenly on June 8 after suffering from a bleeding cerebral aneurysm. Malek graduated with an MD degree from St. Joseph University Medical School in Beirut in 1996. She completed residency programs at Saint Luke's Roosevelt Hospital at Columbia University and at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell University Medical Center, and she held a pediatric neurology fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell University Medical Center.

Trustee Emeritus Robert F. Goheen, president emeritus of Princeton University and former US ambassador to India, passed away on April 1 at the age of 88 due to heart failure. Robert Francis Goheen was born on August 15, 1919, in Vengurla, India. He received his PhD from Princeton University in 1948 and was later chosen to be the youngest president in Princeton’s history in 1956. Goheen was elected to AUB’s Board of Trustees in 1983, and served as chairman from 1987-94 during some of the most violent years of the Lebanese civil war. When he was appointed trustee emeritus in 1994, Goheen said, “My years here have been a rewarding experience, particularly because of the inspirational performance of the faculty, staff, students, and parents who sustained the University during the years of Lebanese national upheaval. I am thankful that my time here saw the return of peace to Lebanon, and of harmony and growth to AUB.”

Alumni

Dr. Adnan Bashir Baydoun (MD '46) died on February 26 at his home in Palos Park, at the age of 86. After graduating from AUB he continued his medical training and specialty in obstetrics and gynecology at Fairview Park Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio (1947-49) and at Lincoln Park Hospital in New York (1949-53). He practiced medicine into his 80s, serving as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Palos Community Hospital, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago, and clinical associate professor at Rush Medical School. He was introduced to the Physicians Hall of Fame of EHS Trinity Hospital in Chicago. Baydoun is survived by his wife, brother, three children, and five grandchildren.

Salim Firzli (MD '47), former professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, passed away on March 27. Firzli was born in Beirut on August 29, 1922. After graduating from AUB with an MD he received a British Council scholarship that enabled him to travel to London for further training. Firzli returned to AUB as assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics in 1957 and became a professor in 1980. He is the recipient of many honors and awards from the Department of Pediatrics, the American University of Beirut, the AUB Alumni Association, and national and international societies. He also received the Cedars Medal from the president of the Republic of Lebanon and the Gold Medal from the Lebanese Order of Physicians. Firzli is survived by his wife Nabila Milki-Firzli and three sons.

George N. Atiyeh (BA '48, MA '50), librarian and scholar who acquired and developed much of the Library of Congress's collection of publications concerning the Middle East, passed away on April 21 at the age of 84 of pneumonia at the Virginian nursing facility in Fairfax County, Virginia. Born in Lebanon, he received a PhD in the history of philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1954. He joined the Library of Congress in 1967 and became a leading figure in Middle Eastern Studies, serving on a White House Advisory Committee on Islamic affairs in 1979. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, three children, three sisters, and two
grandchildren.

Feisal S. Keblawi (BE '57) passed away at the age of 72 on December 2 at his home in Capital Hospice in Arlington County, Virginia after suffering from multiple myeloma. Born in Acre, Palestine in 1935, Keblawi received his master's degree in 1962 and doctorate in 1965 in electrical engineering