UMD Memorial and Celebration

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A memorial and celebration honoring the life and career of

Professor Suheil Badi’ Bushrui 1929 - 2015

November 18, 2015

PROCEEDINGS

“Elizabethan Prayer For My Enemy” Selection from Irish Times Obituary Gregory F. Ball Dean and Professor, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Wallace D. Loh President, University of Maryland William E. “Brit” Kirwan Regents Professor of Mathematics; Chancellor Emeritus, University System of Maryland C. D. (Dan) Mote, Jr. President, National Academy of Engineering

Video featuring Professor Suheil Bushrui Antoine Chedid Ambassador of Lebanon to the United States of America David Cadman Visiting Professor, University of Maryland; Visiting Professor, University College London; Honorary Professor of Practice University of Wales Trinity St. David; Trustee of The Prince's School of Traditional Arts

George Salim Zakhem Principal Patron, The George and Lisa Zakhem Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace; Chairman, Zakhem International S.A.

Selected Tributes Musical Interlude Message from Amine Gemayel read by Nadia Malarkey, representing the Bushrui Family Kenneth E. Bowers Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States Dorothy W. Nelson Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit

Selected Tributes May Rihani Former Co-Chair, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative John R.G. Townshend Research Professor, University of Maryland

Selected Tributes Dean's Award for Distinguished Service Presented to Mrs. Mary Bushrui

"He drew a circle that shut me out— Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in!"

— Edwin Markham

Professor Suheil Badi Bushrui was the founding holder of the George and Lisa Zakhem Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace, the first international academic forum devoted to the preservation of Gibran’s legacy and the promotion of East-West intercultural relations. He was also Senior Scholar of Peace Studies with the Center for International Development and Conflict Management, Senior Scholar with the Academy of Leadership (both at the University of Maryland), and Fellow of the Temenos Academy of London.

Professor Bushrui was the first holder of the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland, a position he held from 1993 through 2005. During his tenure, the Bahá’í Chair infused perspectives on spirituality into the academic debate on major issues of the day and emphasized the essential role that values and principles can play in both teaching and the policy process.

Between 1982 and 1988, Professor Bushrui was senior advisor on cultural affairs andofficial interpreter for the President of the Republic of Lebanon. In that capacity, he actively planned and participated in many cultural activities designed to promote interfaith dialogue and national reconciliation.

Professor Bushrui received numerous honors and awards, including the Juliet Hollister Award given by the Temple of Understanding (a foremost interfaith organization) and an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Franklin & Marshall College in recognition of his international services to scholarship and intercultural understanding. His most recent award was the Interfaith Bridge Builder Award given by the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, DC.

Artwork by Suheil Bushrui