Najeeb Halaby: A Remarkable Life Remembered

WASHINGTON - Najeeb Elias Halaby, a devoted public servant, former head of the US Federal Aviation Administration and Pan American World Airways and father of Queen Noor, died at his home in Virginia on Wednesday from congestive heart failure. 

The son of a naturalized US citizen from Syria, and a Texan mother, he achieved distinction as a pioneer aviator, lawyer, business executive, teacher, humanitarian and a patron of the arts. He had consistent success in a wide range of activities and has been described as a man of enormous drive and complexity. 

A skydiver, a World War II naval aviator and the first to make a transcontinental jet powered flight, he came into public prominence in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy appointed him to head the Federal Aviation Administration, a cabinet level post he held more than four years. As FAA administrator, he set the standards for the industry, establishing stringent safety regulations, and modern air traffic control systems. Newspapers of the Kennedy era made much of him as the first Arab-American to achieve a high-rank in the US government. They also heralded him as a man who knew something about the business he would be regulating.

In 1965 Halaby, often called Jeeb, became senior vice president at Pan Am and eventually rose to the ranks of CEO and Chairman of the company. 

Halaby introduced the first fleet of Boeing 747s, a visionary but costly endeavor.
But his tenure at Pan Am coincided with one of the worst slumps for the airline industry, and he eventually resigned in 1972. 

Unlike many businessmen of his era, he was an avowed liberal, outspoken about his political and philosophical leanings, and championed the cause of minorities. Halaby secured the election of the first minority director to an airline board and insisted on equal opportunity for Hispanic and African Americans in the workplace. 

After leaving Pan Am, he ran an international law practice and headed a company that provided aviation expertise and consulting to Arab countries. 

Like many in the Arab world, he had Pan Arabist leanings, and attempted to implement that philosophy in the course of his business. In an effort to reduce foreign manpower and expertise, he conceived of a project to help create an Arab Air University to train aviation workers, including pilots and mechanics throughout the Arab world. His daughter Lisa, became Queen Noor Al Hussein when she married King Hussein Bin Talal of Jordan in 1978 after they met in an Amman ceremony marking the delivery of Royal Jordanian's first Boeing 747. 

A devoted humanitarian, Halaby served as Chairman of a number of institutions including the America University of Beirut, and Save the Children which operates several projects in Jordan. He also served on the board of a variety of organizations including the King Hussein Foundation, the Jordan Society, Hariri Foundation, the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies, Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Research Institute, and Harvard and Stanford Universities.

Beloved husband and father, he was married to the former Jane Allison Coates from 1980 until her death in 1996. In 1997 he married Libby Anderson Cater. 

Halaby is survived by three children from his marriage to Doris Carlquist, Queen Noor, Christian, and Alexa and ten grandchildren. He was 87-years-old. 

In lieu of flowers please send donations to: 
The King Hussein Foundation 
PO Box 42558
Washington DC 20015