Dubai: Clovis Maksoud, former diplomat, professor, editor, Gulf News columnist, and humanistic thinker, died May 15, 2016, at Washington Hospital Centre, in Washington DC, as a result of severe cerebral hemorrhage. Born in 1926, in Oklahoma, to American Lebanese parents, Maksoud decided to go back to Lebanon for his high school and university education.
In 1944, he was entrolled at the American University of Beirut at a time when Lebanon was on its way to gain its independence from France. AUB was at the time widely viewed as the cauldron of liberal Arab ideas. During his years at AUB he was greatly influenced by the forward-thinking intellect and pan-Arab ideals of Professor Constantine Zuraik.
After graduating from AUB in 1948, he traveled to study law in the United States where he received his J.D. from George Washington University.
Upon Maksoud’s return to Lebanon in the mid-1950s he became actively involved in democratic and social reforms. The aftermath of 1956 Suez War greatly marked him. It anchored his political commitment and made him an enthusiastic advocate of Arab unity and a vigorous defender of Palestinian rights.
In 1966, Maksoud became Senior Editor of Al Ahram newspaper.
In 1973, a full scale war broke out between Israel and its neighbors and Saudi Arabia joined the Arab war effort by cutting oil exports to the west. In response to the American public’s outcry the Arab League dispatched Maksoud as the League’s Special Envoy to the United States to explain the Arab viewpoint to Americans.
As the League’s representative he embarked on innumerable journeys across the US. Everywhere he went, he articulated Arab grievances in a manner that American audiences could understand. To Arabs everywhere, he was the sincere and passionate spokesperson of pan-Arab aspirations and Palestinian rights.
In 1979, Maksoud became the Ambassador of the Arab League to the United States and the United Nations.
During the significant events that shook the Arab World over the last five years, Maksoud maintained his view that the future of the Arab World hinges on its diversity and unity.
