Mashhour Ahmed Mashhour (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: مشهور أحمد مشهور, April 1, 1918 – July 6, 2008) was the Chairman of the

Suez Canal Authority Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is an Egyptian state-owned authority which owns, operates and maintains the Suez Canal. It was set up by the Egyptian government to replace the Suez Canal Company in the 1950s which resulted in the Suez Crisis. After th ...

(October 1965 – December 1983).

Early life and education

Mashhour was born in April 1918 in Al-Saadieen Village in

Sharqia Governorate Sharqia Governorate ( ar, محافظة الشرقية ', , rural: ) is the 3rd most populous of the governorates of Egypt. Located in the northern part of the country, its capital is the city of Zagazig. Overview Bilbeis is the former capital ...

, Egypt, for a big family of many siblings, one of his brothers is Abdel hay Mashhour. His father Ahmed Mashhour was the mayor of Al saadeyeen village and his mother Zuhra Zada was a housewife. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Fouad I University (now known as

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

) in 1942.

Career

Following graduation Mashhour joined the Army Corps of Engineers in 1943 and graduated as a military officer engineer. He became a member of the Free Officers group and played a role in the Egyptian revolution of 1952. He was among the group assigned by the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for the nationalization of the Suez Canal, headed by Mahmoud Younis in 1956. After the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956, he was assigned the director of the movements in the Suez Canal Authority, then took over the chairmanship of the Suez Canal in October 1965.

The Chairman of Suez Canal Authority

He was Chairman of Suez Canal Authority from 14 October 1965 until 31 December 1983. Mashhour was one of the most significant chairmen of the Suez Canal, as he has witnessed very critical periods of Suez Canal history, the thing that made some call him "The man of the difficult missions". Some of the major events that he witnessed as the Chairman of Suez Canal include: the re-opening of the Suez Canal on 5 June 1975, after it has been closed upon the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and in 1973, during the war, the canal was the scene of a major crossing by the Egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai, and much wreckage from this conflict remained along the canal's edges. Besides being the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, he participated in the social life in

Ismailia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

governorate to be elected a member of the

Egyptian parliament The Parliament of Egypt is the bicameral legislature of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is composed of an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Representatives). The Parliament is located in Cairo, Egypt's capital. Under th ...

for the province of Ismailia in 1976 until 1979 and secretary of the National Democratic Party during the same period. He had occupied different positions including The President of the Arab Society for Mining and Petroleum, a member of the board of Egypt-Iran Bank and a member of the National Council for Production. He became deputy prime minister in 1980.

Honors

Mashhour was granted a lot of medals and accolades throughout his life. * He was granted the

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sultana ...

(Kiladate El Nile) by the president Anwar Sadat, which is Egypt's highest state honor, granted to the heads of state and those who rendered great services on the national or human level. * The Republic Military Decoration, first Class. * The Order of Merit, first Class. * The Order of the Republic, first Class. * The Order of Liberation. * The Medal of Palestine. * The medal of the Republic, third degree, and lots more. He was also granted a number of accolades from different countries worldwide, including: * The National Order of the Legion of Honour or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur, France * The Order of Renaissance, Poland * The Order of Mono, Grand officer, the Togolese Republic * He received an Honorary Doctorate from Minufiya University in 1982.

Personal life

He was married to Aziza Salem Mashhour, and they had four children and ten grandchildren.

Death and legacy

On 6 July 2008 he died in Cairo, Egypt at the age of 91, and a solemn military funeral was held and led by

Ahmed Nazif Ahmed Nazif ( ar, أحمد نظيف, ; born 8 July 1952) served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian ...

, the Egyptian Prime Minister who attended on behalf of President Mubarak. A

dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

named after Mashhour was involved in the freeing of the ship involved in the

2021 Suez Canal obstruction In March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days after the grounding of , a container ship. The vessel was buffeted by strong winds on the morning of 23 March, and ended up wedged across the waterway with its bow and stern stuck in th ...