Upcoming Events, Awards & Obituaries

—Compiled by Adam Chamy

Upcoming Events

The Friends of Sabeel-North America will host a Fall 2009 Witness Trip to Palestine, visiting Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Galilee, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 6. For more information visit <www.ypce.org.uk>. For more information contact <>.

Obituaries

Khalid bin Mahfouz, 60, a Saudi banker and billionaire, died Aug. 16 of a heart attack in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Perhaps best known since 9/11 for the unjustified lawsuits against him for supporting terrorism, he was born as the heir to National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia’s largest financial institution. A key figure in the banking industry, Mahfouz helped guide his company through countless crises from the oil shock of the 1970s to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In 1988, Mahfouz donated about $270,000 to help empower the U.S.-sponsored resistance against the Soviets in Afghanistan—a group later known as al-Qaeda. Post-9/11, undercover journalists and lawyers descended upon Mahfouz, attempting to establish a link between himand the al-Qaeda led attacks. Their efforts were in vain, however, and newspapers throughout the U.S. and Europe were forced to retract statements and apologize. Most notoriously, a court ordered Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil, to pay $230,000 in costs and destroy all her books. To date, all legal actions have been settled in Mahfouz’s favor.

Richard C. Shadyac Sr., 80, a well-known Washington-area lawyer, political activist and fund-raising executive, died Sept. 16 of respiratory failure in Arlington, VA. Born in Barre, VT to a Lebanese immigrant father and Irish-American mother, he graduated from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT, before earning his law degree from Boston University. After serving in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corp during the Korean War, he worked in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, then helped found two law firms. In 1963 he joined the board of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, serving as board chairman from 1986-88. Shortly after the 1991 death of St. Jude’s founder, entertainer Danny Thomas, he became head of the hospital’s fund-raising committee, American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC). During his 13-year tenure, public donations quadrupled to more than $400 million, making ALSAC the third largest health-care charity in the United States.

Shadyac also was known for representing Libya during the 1970s and 1980s, and for helping found an Arab-American committee to help the re-election of Jimmy Carter. The Carter campaign, however, eventually renounced the campaign committee because of nervousness in having ties to anyone with links to Libya after it became known that Carter’s brother, Billy, had taken a $220,000 loan from the country. Soon after his conflicts with the Carter campaign, Mr. Shadyac helped found the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, along with former Sen. James Abourezk (D-SD). He was also the past president of the Arlington County Bar and a member of the National Association of Arab Americans, and of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church in Washington, DC.

Shadyac’s first wife, Juliette, died in 2001. He is survived by his wife of seven years, Lynn, two sons, Richard and Thomas, a brother and two grandchildren.