Winter 2008 Vol. VI, No. 2

In Memoriam

Nabeel Ashkar (BBA ’45), Honorary University Marshal, passed away on October 12, 2007. Nabeel G. Ashkar joined AUB in June 1965 as director of alumni affairs at the Office of Development and Centennial Affairs. He went on to serve as acting public relations officer, executive secretary of the Commencement Committee, and commencement coordinator under President Harold Hoelscher. In 1970 he was asked by President Kirkwood to assume the position of assistant registrar for public relations. In 1976, when Raymond Ghosn, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, and Robert Najemy, dean of students, were killed, Ashkar was asked to assume responsibility for the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Bursary Students. When he became director of student services, he assumed responsibility for student housing, student employment, scholarships, student activities, athletics, as well as bursaries. Although he was scheduled to retire in1989, he was asked by Adnan Iskandar, vice president for university relations, to remain as director of public functions. He later joined the Office of Information and Public Relations as an adviser, a position he held until he retired. Ashkar was also given the title of Honorary University Marshal. While at AUB, he drafted the regulations for Order of Precedence at University Functions, wrote the text for Commencement Exercises at the request of President Hoelscher, prepared guidelines for the use of university premises for public activities, and, at the request of Vice President Iskandar, drafted a general University Policy Manual. Ashkar also helped to design the AUB faculty emblems. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Alice (Bollus) Najemy, 85, passed away on September 3, 2007. She was the wife of the late Dean of Students Robert E. Najemy, who was killed on campus in 1976. Alice Najemy was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. She married Robert Najemy in 1945. The Najemy family moved to Beirut in 1958 when Dean Najemy accepted the position of dean of students at AUB. Upon returning to the United States in 1980, she engaged in community work by participating in YWCA activities. Alice Najemy is survived by her children and her sister Olga Batbouta. To contact the family, email j.najemy@verizon.net.

Professor Farid Hanania (BBA ’31), who served as dean of AUB's Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1953 to 1965 and as an international law teacher until 1977, died in Cahors, France at the age of 98. Hanania was born in Jerusalem on December 25, 1908. He attended the Saint George Boarding School, Jerusalem, and after graduating from AUB in 1931 he traveled to England. He received a degree in law from Cambridge University and became an active member of a small group of Arabs and Palestinians in England in the 1930s. Hanania became the first Arab lawyer to join the British magistrate and worked during World War II in the Arabic section of the BBC. He is survived by his wife Pru, son Tony, and daughter Caroline.

Sameeh S. Toukan (Pharmacy ’40) passed away January 20, 2007. After graduating from AUB, he received a BSC from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and a PhD in organic chemistry from Temple University in 1961. In 1961 he was appointed as instructor in organic chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at Temple University. In 1962 he accepted a position as senior research chemist with Pennwalt Corp. in King of Prussia, PA, where he worked until his retirement in 1988. He holds 23 US patents, mostly in the field of fluorine chemistry. He is survived by his wife Gabriele and their two children, Mark and Linda and granddaughter Kara.

Haidar Abdel Shafi (MD ’43), who led the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid International Peace Conference in 1991, died in Gaza City at the age of 88 following a two-year battle with cancer. After he graduated from AUB, he joined the British Jordanian Army’s Jeish al-Badiah (Desert Army) as a medic. He later studied surgery at the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, from 1949-54. He was involved in numerous activities throughout his career, most recently serving as a member of the Palestine Legislative Council in 1996. Abdel Shafi is survived by his wife, four children, and seven grandchildren.

Bashir Daouk (BA ’52), former professor of economics at AUB (1957-68), passed away in October 2007 in his Paris home. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1958. He joined AUB as an instructor of economics (1957-58), was promoted to senior assistant in economics in 1958, and to research assistant in 1959. From 1960-61 he served as a lecturer in economics. He became assistant professor of economics at AUB in 1961—a position he held until 1968. He is the founder of the prestigious Arab printing press Dar al-Tali’a and editor of the Journal of Arab Studies (Al-Dirasat al-Arabiyya).

George A. Awad (BS ’64, MD ’68) passed away on May 25 due to heart failure. Born in Acre, Palestine, Awad studied at the University of Rochester and the University of Michigan after completing his MD at AUB. Awad became a staff psychiatrist at the Family Court Clinic, Clark Institute of Psychiatry, where he later served as director. Awad also served as associate professor of psychiatry at the