By Samir Twair

 Staff Writer

Hilmi Ibrahim, who served on the Whittier College faculty for 43 years, died of congestive heart failure July 12. More than 300 relative, friends and former students  gathered Aug. 22 at the Ruth B. Shannon Center for Performing Arts in Whittier to celebrate the life of the popular educator. Read the full story

R. Hilmi Elias (79), passed away at our home in Beino-Kboula (Akkar, North Lebanon); after a silent battle with metastasized cancer and without him voicing a single complaint or being discontent with the inevitable.

By Ghassan H. Elias, Guest Writer, Los Angeles

August 19, 2009

Those of us living abroad may be working and living well, but one remains far from al-watan, the motherland, and is certainly away from parents, relatives and childhood friends.  Time passes without a break, tough constraints evolve but are overcome throughout a natural course of events, life keeps changing for all of us…..and all that has passed cannot be regained.

Having tried so hard in the month of July to obtain an airline ticket to Lebanon to see my ailing father, it was all to no avail until a sudden success on August 4th.  However, only one hour after the airplane took off from Los Angeles, my beloved father, R. Hilmi Elias (79), passed away at our home in Beino-Kboula (Akkar, North Lebanon); after a silent battle with metastasized cancer and without him voicing a single complaint or being discontent with the inevitable.  Surrounded by my mother Laila, my sister Juliette and other family members, he departed peacefully.  Although I could not get a glimpse of my father while still alive, I am content to have made it to al-watan and said one last goodbye.  May God bless his soul.

For me, it hurts deeply to have been so far away and not been able to tend to him albeit Read the full story

Faten Zanayed

She will always be remembered and we will miss her dearly.

God Bless her soul!

Manal Mashney

Published in The Independent Monitor September 2009 issue.

Nouris Ahmed Ibrahim

It is with sadness in our hearts that we inform of the passing of my mother Nouris Ahmed.
She was a remarkable woman and a wonderful mother. Her career extended for over 50 years in Journalism and Politics in Egypt but it was how much good she did to other people that really mattered in the last few days of her life.
I would like to thank everyone for all their kind words, prayers and their support.

Dr Hisham Seify

Published in The Independent Monitor September 2009 issue.

By Pat Twair, Contributing Editor, and
Samir Twair, Staff Writer

Friends and admirers of world-renowned wood craftsman Sam Maloof traveled to Claremont College’s Kresge Chapel for a June 9 celebration of his long and prolific life. The chapel was filled one hour before the ceremony as several hundred more people gathered in the Harvey Mudd Auditorium and dozens more sat on chairs in the chapel garden.

Dr. Jeremy Adamson of the Smithsonian Institution, who wrote The Furniture of Sam Maloof, noted that for the first 30 years of his life, Sam’s family name was Soloman. This was the name wholesalers had bequeathed on Sam’s immigrant peddler parents, Nasif and Anise Sleiman Maloof, because there were already too many tradespeople named Maloof to keep track of.

Sam’s beginnings were humble, but the son of Lebanese immigrants became the only living craftsman to have his work in the White House collection of American furniture. In 1985, he was the firstwood worker to receive the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant” and the same year, the California Read the full story

Huda Sosebee

Dec. 18, 1962 – July 15, 2009

Huda helped thousands of Palestinian Children as well as other children from the Middle East in finding medical care and housing.

Huda was committed to the cause until the very end; a true daughter of Palestine.

It is with great sadness and sorrow, that I inform you of the passing of Huda Sosebee, the head social worker for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund after battling Leukemia for 7 months.

Marwan ElMasri, PCRF-Boston Chapter

Reem Saba Suneij

July 17, 2009

[I] inform you with deep sorrow, that my sister REEM SABA SUNEIJ has passed away this afternoon (Friday, July 17) after a hard fought battle with cancer.

Samer Saba

May her soul rest in eternal peace.