Najeeb Halaby

Najeeb Elias Halaby Jr. (; September 19/November 19, 1915 - July 2, 2003) was a US businessman, government official, and the father of Queen Noor of Jordan.

Early life and ancestry

Halaby was born in Dallas, Texas. His father was Najeeb Elias Halaby Sr. a Syrian Christian, who emigrated to the United States from Syria in 1891. Najeeb Elias Halaby Sr.'s father was a Elias Halaby, provincial treasurer or magistrate in Ottoman Syria, who also came to the U.S. in 1891. Najeeb Elias Halaby Sr. worked as an importer and later an oil broker. In the mid-1920s, Najeeb Elias Halaby Sr. opened Halaby Galleries, a rug boutique and interior-decorating shop, at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, and ran it with his wife. He died shortly afterward, and his estate was unable to continue the new enterprise.

Najeeb Elias Halaby Jr.'s mother was the former Laura Wilkins. Following her husband's death, she married Urban B. Koen, but they ultimately divorced. Halaby's maternal grandfather was John T. Wilkins, who served in the 7th Tennessee Cavalry during the Civil War.

Career

He was a graduate of The Leelanau School, a boarding school in Glen Arbor Township Leelanau County, Michigan, and is enshrined in that school's Hall of Fame. An alumnus of Stanford......
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