Elias (Elie) Skaff ( Arabic: الياس سكاف; born 11 October 1948 – 10 October 2015) was a Lebanese politician and leader of the Popular Bloc.

Early years and education

Elias Skaff was born in

Zahlé Zahlé () is a city in eastern Lebanon, and the capital and largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli and the fourth-largest ...

, Lebanon on 11 October 1948. He is the son of the leader and ex-minister Joseph Tohme Skaff. His mother is Helena Nilacos who is of the Greek nationality. Elias Skaff received elementary education in Zahle and then in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. In 1965, he attended the Evangelical School in Zahle and then the International School of Choueifat – Lebanon. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Engineering from the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

in 1975.

Political career

Skaff was elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1992 as head of the Popular Bloc list as well as in 1996, 2000 and 2005. He was appointed minister of industry in 2003 in the government of

Rafic Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed fi ...

. Then he served as the minister of agriculture in 2004 and 2005 in the Omar Karami government. He also participated in the sessions of National Dialogue in his capacity as head of the parliamentary Popular Bloc in 2006. In July 2008, Skaff was appointed agriculture minister to the cabinet of then prime minister Fouad Siniora. Skaff lost his parliamentary seat in 2009 elections.

Personal life

Elias Skaff is married to Myriam Gebran Tawk and has two children: Joseph and Gebran. Elias Skaff reestablished the political newspaper ''Al Asr'' (in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

العصر) in 2000.

References

2015 deaths 1948 births Members of the Parliament of Lebanon American University of Beirut alumni Lebanese people of Greek descent People from Zahle Lebanese Melkite Greek Catholics Agriculture ministers of Lebanon Industry ministers of Lebanon {{Lebanon-politician-stub