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Middle East expert Naseer Aruri remembered as friend at UMass Dartmouth
Source: www.southcoasttoday.com
Naseer H. Aruri, an internationally renowned expert on the Middle East, a Palestinian activist and an author was not only remembered for his accomplishments, but for his sense of humor and his friendship at a memorial Sunday at UMass Dartmouth.
“The turnout today is testament to the respect, the admiration and love with which Professor Naseer Aruri is held, not only in the community on this campus, but in the community around the world,” Chancellor Divina Grossman said to the 200 or so people gathered at the Woodland Commons.
Grossman said she never met Aruri, who joined the faculty in 1965 and retired in 1998 from UMass Dartmouth as a Chancellor Professor of Political Science. Aruri also served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International. He died Feb. 10, at the age of 81.
“He worked to achieve peace through understanding,” Grossman said.
Laughter filled the room during a series of speeches by friends and colleagues. Several members of Aruri’s family attended as well, from children and grandchildren to nieces and nephews.
Jamal Aruri, one of Naseer’s sons, spoke about his father’s struggles when he first immigrated to the United States to study at the American International College in Springfield. He also spoke about how he fell in love with his wife, Joyce, who was present, and began a family.
People laughed when he talked about the strange haircuts he sported because his father believed he could cut his hair as well as a barber could, and the time he cut the hair of Franky, the adopted poodle.
When the children let go of the dog who had struggled to escape the scissors, he ran as fast as he could up the street, Jamal Aruri said.
“We never saw Franky again,” he said, as the room erupted in laughter once more.
Maria Furman, another professor at UMass Dartmouth and a close family friend who led the ceremony, talked about the many ski trips she organized with Aruri’s family and other friends. When she asked the crowd if they knew Aruri skied, many shook their heads.
“Well he did not actually” she said. Instead, Naseer would cook, read, play cards with friends and was in charge of the fun, she said.
Hani Faris, who said his relationship with Aruri was more like one between brothers than friends, talked about his many academic accomplishments.
Aruri founded the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, and co-founded the Trans-Arab Research Institute, and the two worked together to publish books.
“Understandably, Naseer’s death hurt me deeply, and I find my solace in his legacy that lives on and the knowledge that I am very privileged to have known him,” he said.
Faris closed by telling the crowd what a mutual friend had told him about Aruri’s death, that best expressed how he felt himself.
“For me, Naseer was one of the rare individuals who makes you feel secure … by his mere presence on this planet” he said. “It is a life worth celebrating.”
Follow Carol Kozma on Twitter @CarolKozmaSCT