DETROIT— Arab American entrepreneur Russell J. Ebeid announced a $2 million legacy contribution to the Arab American National Museum (AANM) at ACCESS’ 43rd annual dinner at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on Saturday, April 12.
ACCESS handed its “Arab American of the Year” awards to former Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and University of Michigan electrical engineering professor Dr. Fawwaz Ulaby at the event.
Ebeid, a Lebanese American businessman from Southwest Detroit, is the owner of Dearborn’s Fairlane Club and the former executive of Guardian Industries. The donation will become a part of his will and be given as a gift to the museum.
The planned gift is the largest donation in the history of ACCESS, the museum’s parent organization, according to the group’s chief financial officer Maha Freij.
“This is a tipping point in the way we engage our individual donors,” said Freij. “This contribution is five times larger than any other individual gift we’ve ever received. We are so thankful to Mr. Ebeid for breaking the glass ceiling, for his leadership and for believing in us.”
Ebeid announced the donation after presenting scholarships to students attending his alma mater, Kettering University in Flint. He said he hopes the donation can inspire and challenge fellow Arab Americans to follow his lead.
“I have decided to make this endowment because I believe in our community,” Ebeid explained. “I believe in supporting our institutions and creating a loud and proud historical heritage for our children, grandchildren and the public for generations to come. I trust that this legacy contribution in my will can promote and enhance the museum’s prestige, as well as honor our admirable predecessors.”
Several elected officials, including Governor Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, gave speeches praising ACCESS at the ceremony. According to ACCESS, 1,800 people attended the annual event.
The governor said we should be proud to have ACCESS in our state and our community because it is the largest Arab American social services organization. “It is not only the largest, but it’s among the best in terms of helping people in so many different ways… and that’s the part we should be proud of,” said Snyder.
Duggan also highlighted ACCESS’ contributions to the community and invited the organization to continue moving its services into the city of Detroit. “You will be greeted by nothing but warmth and appreciation by our city,” he said.
Dearborn City Council President Susan Dabaja, who was representing Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Jr., said she witnessed the organization’s impact firsthand while growing up in the South End of Dearborn. “ACCESS proved to be essential in the growth, integration and empowerment of the Arab American community in Dearborn,” she added.
The honorees
LaHood, of Peoria, Illinois, is a Republican politician of Lebanese descent. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2009 and as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013. LaHood was the only Arab American and one of two Republicans on Obama’s first cabinet.
LaHood praised Snyder for putting party differences aside and accepting federal money from the Obama Administration for infrastructure projects during his time as Secretary of Transportation. He also commended Duggan for taking the Detroit mayor’s job. “I am grateful to you for willing to step up and try to turn around this city that is facing so many difficulties,” he told the mayor. “Detroit is one of the iconic cities in America.”
LaHood said he learned three rules to success from his Lebanese family: working hard, playing by the rules, and having faith in God.
Ulaby, who was born in Syria and attended the American University of Beirut, is a distinguished professor of electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, where he served as vice president for research from 1995 to 2005. He was also the founding Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.
The professor has directed numerous NASA-funded projects aimed at the development of high-resolution satellite radar sensors for mapping the Earth’s terrestrial environment, and he served as the founding director of the Center for Space Terahertz Technology.
Ulaby was moved to tears after a praiseful introduction by his daughter.
“Getting honored by members of my own Arab American community is indeed a very special tribute that I will remember and treasure forever,” he said. “We are Americans with Arab roots, and while it pains us to see the turmoil across the Arab World – Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Egypt being prime examples – We are also grateful and proud to be Americans, and in my case to be a true blue Michigander. No other country in the world has been as welcoming, as accepting and as generous with opportunities as has this great nation.”
Leave a Reply