Najeeb Halaby

Najeeb Halaby
Halaby being sworn in as Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency, 1961
Born	Najeeb Elias Halaby, Jr. (1915-11-19)November 19, 1915 Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Died	July 2, 2003(2003-07-02) (aged 87)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Aviator, government official, and businessman
Known for	making the first transcontinental jet flight in US history
Parent(s)	Najeeb Elias Halaby, Sr. Laura Wilkins

Najeeb Elias Halaby, Jr. (Arabic: نجيب إلياس حلبي‎‎; November 19, 1915 – July 2, 2003) was an American businessman, government official, celebrated aviator, and the father of Queen Noor of Jordan.

Halaby was born in Dallas, Texas. His father was Najeeb Elias Halaby, Sr. (March 17, 1878/1880 - December 16, 1928), a Syrian Christian, who immigrated to the United States from Syria in 1891. Halaby's paternal grandfather was Elias Halaby, provincial treasurer or magistrate in Ottoman Syria, who also came to the U.S. in 1891. Halaby's father worked as an importer and, later, as an oil broker. In the mid-1920s, Halaby's father opened Halaby Galleries, a rug boutique and interior-decorating shop, at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, and ran it with his wife, the former Laura Wilkins (April 23, 1889 - April 1987). He died shortly afterward, and his estate was unable to continue the new enterprise. Following his father's death, his mother married Urban B. Koen, but they ultimately divorced. Halaby's maternal grandfather was John Thomas Wilkins, who served in the 7th Tennessee Cavalry during the Civil War.

He was a graduate of The Leelanau School, a boarding school in Glen Arbor Township Leelanau County, Michigan, and is enshrined in that school's Hall of Fame. An alumnus of Stanford University (1937) and Yale Law School (1940), he served as a U.S. Navy test pilot in World War II. On May 1, 1945, Halaby made history by making the first transcontinental jet flight in U.S. history. Halaby took off from Muroc AFB, California, and landed at Patuxent River NAS, Maryland, 5 hours and 40 minutes later.