Bachir Gemayel بشير الجميّل |
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President-elect of Lebanon | |
In office Did not take office |
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Preceded by | Elias Sarkis |
Succeeded by | Amine Gemayel |
Leader of LF | |
In office 1976–1982 |
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Succeeded by | Fadi Frem |
Personal details | |
Born |
Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon |
10 November 1947
Died | 14 September 1982 Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon |
(aged 34)
Political party | Kataeb |
Spouse(s) | Solange Totonji (1977–1982, his death) |
Relations | Amine Gemayel (brother) |
Children | Maya Gemayel (1978–1980) Youmna Gemayel Nadim Gemayel |
Parents |
Pierre Gemayel Genevieve Gemayel |
Alma mater | Saint Joseph University |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Religion | Maronite Catholicism |
Bachir Gemayel (Arabic: بشير الجميّل Bashīr al-Jimayyel, also romanized al-Jumayyil and El Gemaiel. Arabic pronunciation: [baˈʃiːr ʤɪma.jɪl]; 10 November 1947 – 14 September 1982) was a Lebanese leader and president-elect. He was a senior member of the Phalange party and the supreme commander of the Lebanese Forces militia during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90).
He was elected president on 23 August 1982 while the country was torn by civil war and occupied by both Israel and Syria. He was assassinated on 14 September 1982, along with 26 others, when a bomb exploded in the Beirut Phalange headquarters. The bomb was planted by Habib Tanious Shartouni. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation blamed the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).
Bachir was born in the Achrafieh neighborhood of Beirut on 10 November 1947, the youngest of six children. The Gemayel family originated from Bikfaya village in the Matn District of Lebanon and is one of the most influential Christian families in the country. His father was Pierre Gemayel, who founded the Phalange party in 1936 as a youth movement. Bachir Gemayel attended the Jesuit Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour and the Institution Moderne du Liban (IML)- Fanar. He completed his university education at St. Joseph University (Université Saint-Joseph - USJ) in Beirut. After teaching for three years at the Lebanese Modern Institute, he graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in law and another in political sciences in 1973. In 1971, Gemayel studied at The Center for American and International Law near Dallas, Texas in the United States. Qualifying in 1972, he joined the bar association and opened an office in Hamra Street, West Beirut.