The deaths of a Dearborn Heights man and his young daughter, killed in a freak car accident in Beirut on July 19, have left many stunned in the local community and abroad. Family members have memorialized them in the following essay.

Mohamad A. Habhab of Dearborn Heights, beloved husband and father of three, and his three-year-old daughter Yasmeena, passed away last Sunday, July 19, in a tragic car accident in Mohamad’s native country of Lebanon.

Mohamad Habhab

Mohamad, his wife Llama and the couple’s three young children, Yasmeena, 3, Adeeb, 2, and Aya,1, were traveling south on President Hafez Al-Assad Street when another vehicle careened off an overpass and descended upon the driver’s side of the Habhabs’ defenseless vehicle. Mohamad and three-year-old Yasmeena, who was seated behind her father, did not survive the initial impact.
Mohamad moved to the United States in 1986 to study engineering. Though he barely spoke English at the time, Mohamed worked full-time in various jobs to cover the cost of tuition and eventually earned his degree in electrical and computer engineering from Wayne State University. He further pursued his education to attain a dual master’s degree at Lawrence Technological University, and by the time of his death had become one of Chrysler’s brightest stars, having risen to senior engineer and survived the mass corporate layoffs that plagued Chrysler as it entered and then emerged from bankruptcy.

With the turmoil at Chrysler behind him, Mohamad recently decided that it was time to visit his homeland and to introduce his children to their grandparents and relatives. His wife and children were his fortune, and what better way to celebrate one’s fortune than with family. What Mohamad could never have imagined though, was that traveling to Lebanon to visit family would seal his eventual fate.

Yasmeena Habhab, 3

Mohamad had spent his life helping to design safer, more efficient passenger vehicles. He knew that his designs would be depended on by the millions of families who trusted Chrysler to deliver safe, reliable vehicles, which is why he entrusted a Chrysler vehicle to carry his most prized possession — his own family. Imagine then, the reactions of his family in Lebanon and here in the U.S., when they learned of his tragic accident while watching the news. Mohamad and Yasmeena’s deaths will be forever regarded by their loved ones as shocking, devastating tragedies. Yet not even the events of last Sunday, tragic as they are, could prevent Mohamad’s love and care for his family and the world around from shining bright.
Mohamad and Yasmeena’s lives were taken when a car that dove from the air, not the ground, landed atop them. Save for injuries to their heads, to which they succumbed, there was not a scratch on either of their bodies. What’s more, the other passengers, Mohamad’s wife Llama and his infant children Adeeb and Aya all survived. Indeed, Mohamad had spent his life designing safe, reliable vehicles, and while no safety feature could have prevented what happened to him and his daughter Yasmeena, one cannot help but wonder whether the care with which he undertook his life’s work was somehow acknowledged when the lives of his wife and two other children were spared.

Mohamad and Yasmeena were laid to rest in their beloved village of Kfarhouna in South Lebanon. Yasmeena’s final resting place was somewhere she had come to know well during her short life — in her father’s arms right next to his heart. Mohamad is survived by his wife Llama, son Adeeb, daughter Aya, father Adeeb, mother Samira, two brothers Ali and Yehya, four sisters Norma, Nachaat, Nadine and Loubna, as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Had he lived, Mohamad would have welcomed his fourth child to the world later this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of them. May God give them strength and bless them with the inner peace, patience and resolve to endure this tragic loss.

Memorial services are to be held on Saturday, July 25, 6 p.m. at the Islamic Center of America, 19500 Ford Road in Dearborn, 313.593.000.