His passing marks the end of a long and storied career as politician and newspaper man, playing a pivotal role in both the formative years of Lebanon and its post Civil War period.
Born in Beirut in 1926, Ghassan Tueni inherited the power of his family’s dynasty and embarked on his sweeping journey at a young age.
After getting degrees from American University of Beirut and Harvard University the 22-year-old Tueni took the reins of An-Nahar newspaper after his father died in 1948.
But Tueni was more than just a giant of the newspaper business.
He was involved in some of the most seminal moments of the country’s history as a diplomat and politician and cemented an unusual and controversial tradition of trying to value political participation at his newspaper along with journalistic objectivity.
In 1951 Tueni became a 25-year-old MP. By 1953 he was deputy speaker of the house. He would go on to become deputy prime minister as well as the ambassador to Greece and later to the United Nations. He handled all his political duties while also running his newspaper that attempted to be objective. Tueni’s son Gebran and granddaughter Nayla, who now runs the newspaper, carried on his politics and journalism tradition.
After a short-lived stint as a member of the Social Syrian Nationalist Party, Tueni was a lifelong advocate of national independence and sovereignty.
His call at the United Nations Security Council to “let my people live, let my people live” was the emotional force behind the 1978 UN resolution to establish the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. As a March 14 coalition MP in 2006 Tueni delivered the petition for pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud’s resignation after the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
In 2009, Tunei received the Lebanese Order of Merit from President Michel Sleiman for his life’s work.