Issam Fares
{{short description|Lebanese businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name = Issam Michael Fares
| birth_date = {{birth year and age |1937}}
| birth_place = Tripoli, Lebanon
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Tripoli College
| occupation = Businessman, politician
| spouse = Hala Fares
}}
Issam Fares (born 1937) is a Lebanese businessman, former member of the Parliament of Lebanon and Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon.
Early life
Issam Michael Fares was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1937.{{cite web |title=Issam Michael Fares: Chairman, Wedge Group |url=https://www.wedgegroup.com/our-people/corporate-and-real-estate-team/issam-m-fares/|publisher=Wedge Group |access-date=28 December 2019}}{{cite book|title=Who's Who in Lebanon|year=2007|publisher=Publitec Publications|edition=19th|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110945904.476|location=Beirut|isbn=978-3-598-07734-0|page=127|doi=10.1515/9783110945904.476 }} He was educated at Tripoli College, and graduated in 1954.
Career
In 1954, at the age of seventeen, Fares left his homeland to work as a clerk at a catering and food services firm in Qatar. Two years later, he was heading Abela Group’s finances and subsequently managing its operations in Pakistan, Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
At age 38, Fares established a civil engineering and construction firm, which completed many notable projects including the world's longest international bridge, which connects Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.[http://www.arabianbusiness.com/rich-list-issam-fares-88756.html "Rich List-Issam Fares"], Arabian Business - Rich List, 10 December 2008. Accessed 22 March 2016.
He then sold the company to British Aerospace, and used the proceeds to buy US-based investment firm, Wedge Group; a company that he heads today.{{Cite web|title = Arabian Business Rich List 2010|url = http://www.arabianbusiness.com/arabian-business-rich-list-2010-367763.html?view=profile&itemid=367875#.Vlf6nVXhDnA|website = Arabian Business|accessdate = 2015-11-27}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/19012201|title = Issam M Fares, Wedge Group Inc: Profile and Biography|website = Bloomberg News}}
Politics
In
the general elections of 2000, Fares won the seat of Akkar, the first district of the North Lebanon.{{cite news|title=Opposition Candidates Win Elections|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEBANON+-+Sept.+3+-+Opposition+Candidates+Win+Elections.-a073739331|accessdate=10 March 2013|newspaper=APS Diplomat Recorder|date=9 September 2000}} He served as deputy prime minister of Lebanon from 2000 to 2005.{{cite news|url= http://www.arabianbusiness.com/arabian-business-rich-list-2010-367763.html?view=profile&itemid=367875|title=Arabian Business Rich List 2010|newspaper=Arabian Business|accessdate=3 October 2012}}
Honours
The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University, the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and the Issam Fares Faculty of Technology at the University of Balamand are named after him.
Personal life
Fares has 3 sons with his first wife. He is married to Hala Fares, his second wife.[http://www.superyachtfan.com/superyacht_wedge_too.html "Superyacht Wedge Too"], Super Yacht Fan. Accessed 5 April 2016. They have a daughter, Noor Fares.
Issam Fares owns one of the 200 largest superyachts in the world, the Wedge Too. It has a length of 66m, and was designed by Philippe Starck. It was built in 2002 in the Netherlands.{{Cite web|title = Top 200 largest yachts|url = http://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/the-register/top-200-largest-yachts--25027|website = Boat International|accessdate = 2015-11-27}}
Fares has donated over 1 billion US dollars to various political, educational and philanthropic institutions.{{Cite web|url=https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht/wedge-too/owner/|title = ISSAM FARES • Net Worth $2 Billion • House • Yacht • Private Jet}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fares, Issam}}
Category:20th-century Lebanese businesspeople
Category:21st-century Lebanese businesspeople
Category:Members of the Parliament of Lebanon
Category:Deputy prime ministers of Lebanon
Category:Greek Orthodox Christians from Lebanon
Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour
Category:Knights of St. Gregory the Great
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Category:Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise