Howard Bliss was born in Souk el Gharb on 6 December, 1860 and received his elementary education in this village. He was the son of Daniel Bliss, founder of the Syrian Protestant College (now American University of Beirut). He followed in his father’s footsteps – graduating from Amherst College, USA, and returned to become the second President of the SPC between 1902 and 1920. With his good relations with the Ottomans, especially Jamal Pasha, he led SPC through the difficult days of WWI. Dr. Howard S. Bliss was among the Lebanese-Syrian delegates to the Paris Peace Conference, on February 6, 1919, and gave a speech on behalf of Lebanon before the Council of Ten.
Rachid Atieh was born in Souk el Gharb in 1875. He was a journalist working in a well-known Lebanese newspaper in Beirut. In the early 20th century, he immigrated to Brazil and landed in Sao Paulo, where he continued to practice his profession as a journalist and founded a newspaper he named “Fata Loubnan” (the young man of Lebanon). A street in São Paulo was named in his honour.
Jamil Murad Baroudy was born in Souk El-Gharb on 8 August, 1905 and studied at the American University of Beirut. He continued his studies in France and the U.K. where he specialized in Middle Eastern Studies. He later befriended King Faiysal Ibn Abdelaziz Saoud. He was appointed Secretary General of the Lebanese Republic at the New York World Fair and later became Emeritus Secretary. Jamil Baroody was made Honorary Citizen of New York City in 1939. In 1943, he joined Princeton University as Professor of Arabic and befriended Dr. Philip Hitti, Professor of History. Baroody was an adviser to Arabic Edition of Reader’s Digest, and a freelance writer on Middle East 1944-1947. After the end of World War II, in 1945, he joined the Royal Saudi Mission in San Francisco when the United Nations was established. He further signed the Declaration of Human Rights along with another famous Lebanese, Dr. Charles Malik, who headed the Lebanese delegation. He served as the Saudi Ambassador at the U.N. until his death in 1979, when the U.N. flag was lowered for the first time in mourning.
Other famous names include:
Iskander Nicolas Baroudi (1856-1921): Judge, doctor, poet, journalist, historian, social activist, author.
Dr. Raja Hajjar: Chemist and University Professor, born 1928, Dean of The Faculty of Beirut University, Lebanese American University 1983-1993, author.
Abbas Michel Khalaf: Administrative and Political, born 1934, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Life Insurance Company in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Minister of Trade and Economy 1974-1975, Member of the National Dialogue Committee 1975.
Dr. Youssef Iskandar Salameh: Banker, writer, author and thinker. Born 1925, Ph.D. in Political and International Sciences. Founded and managed the Intra Bank in New York until 1967.
Moutran Elijah Saliby (M): Bishop of Orthodoxy, born 1881
From 1929-1936, he was in charge of Metropolitan Beirut and its surroundings. He received seventeen medals in recognition of his religious works and worldly projects.
Dr. Elias Salbi: Director of American Protestant Schools; He founded 27 schools in Mount Lebanon.
Dr. Ghaleb Salbi (1872-1947): Teacher, doctor and musician. Also a poet and educator, he was the head of the British Royal Society.
Najib Mitri Salbi (1870-1935): Chief Medical Doctor of the U.S. Army of the Philippines, Member of the Academy and Legislative Council, Author of “Language of the Moors”.
Rashid Shaheen Attia (1882-1956) – An immigrant journalist, linguist, educator and poet. He traveled to Egypt in 1906. He emigrated to Brazil in 1913 and created the magazine “Modern Novels”, and the newspaper “Social and Literary News”” And “The Boy of Lebanon”.
Samuel Atieh – Head of English Army Intelligence in Egypt.
Elijah Atieh: Deputy Governor of Sudan and friend of Lawrence of Arabia during World War I.
Shaheen Atieh (1825-1913) Linguist, expert in Arabic Literature
Jirgi Shaheen Atieh: (1883-1945) Poet, writer and journalist, he created a magazine ‘the Observer”.
Nassif Salim Atieh: He obtained a lawyer’s degree from Istanbul in 1905. Board member of Mount Lebanon during the Ottoman era.
Sami Atieh: Journalist, established a newspaper “Hadath”
Edouard Atieh – Director of the Arab Bureau in London.
Dr. Salim Nassif Atieh: First doctor to graduate from American University in 1871, he treated patients for 40 years free of charge. He founded a pharmacy in Souq el Gharb, from which the poor were given medicine free of charge.
Dr. Nohad Akl: University Professor, born 1937, President of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the Lebanese American University, Member of the Executive and Administrative Councils, Member of the American Chemistry Association, and The Lebanese Organization for Scientific Development. Many articles and lectures in analytical chemistry.
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