Sayed Marei

Marei was born in a village, Al Aziziyah, in Sharqia Governorate on 26 August 1913. His ancestors were from Najd, Arabia, and his grandfather, Nasr Ibrahim Nasr, was a landowner. His father was Ahmad Marei, and the family moved to Cairo in 1919. Ahmed Marei was a member of the Wafd Party and was elected to the Parliament in 1924 and in 1938.{{cite journal|author=Robert Springborg|title=Sayed Bey Marei and Political Clientelism in Egypt|journal=Comparative Political Studies|volume=12|issue=3|year=1979|doi=10.1177/001041407901200301|pages=262–263,271,277,279|s2cid=153468126}}

Marei graduated from the College of Agriculture of Cairo University in 1937 obtaining a degree in agricultural engineering.

Following his graduation Marei worked at family farm in Al Aziziyah. He joined the [[Saadist Institutional Party.{{cite journal |author=Robert Springborg|title=Patrimonialism and policy making in Egypt: Nasser and Sadat and the tenure policy for reclaimed lands

|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=15|issue=1|year=1979|doi=10.1080/00263207908700395|page=54

|jstor=4282729}} He was elected as a member of Parliament in 1942 becoming the youngest parliamentarian in the country.

Following the regime change in 1952 Marei was named as the managing director of the Supreme Committee for Agrarian Reform. Therefore, he was in charge of drafting and executing the law on agricultural reforms.{{cite journal

|author=Fauzi M. Najjar|title=Book review|journal=The Review of Politics|volume=45|issue=2|year=1983|jstor=1406963|pages=296–299}} He became the chairman of the board of directors of the Agricultural Credit Bank in March 1955.{{cite news|author=Muhammad Al Jawadi|title=المهندس سيد مرعي الباشا الذي روّض الضباط و استبقى الخيول — المقالات والدراسات|website=Al Jazeera|date=27 February 2021|url=https://www.aljazeeramubasher.net/opinions/2021/2/27/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%87%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B3-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%91%D8%B6|language=ar|access-date=14 October 2023}} His first ministerial post was the minister of state for agrarian reform to which he was appointed on 1 July 1956 in a cabinet reshuffle. The office was a new addition to the Egyptian cabinet.{{cite news|title=Egyptian Cabinet Changes|access-date=14 October 2023|issue=53572|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS118707938/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=c2cba10c

|work=The Times|date=2 July 1956|location=Cairo}} He was made the minister of agrarian reform in 1957. The ministry was named as the ministry of central agrarian reform in 1958, and Marei continued to head it. He became the minister of agriculture in 1961. He was removed from the post the same year due to the unsuccessful attempts of the ministry to overcome the cotton worm disaster.

Marei served as the vice president of the Parliament in the early 1960s. He was a member of the Arab Socialist Union and became part of its secretariat in November 1964.{{cite thesis|author=Patricia Peghini Ryan

|title=The Arab Socialist Union of Egypt|year=1972|id={{ProQuest|302593067}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/302593067|degree=PhD

|pages=89,99|isbn=9798659245712|location=West Virginia University}} He was appointed minister of land reclamation in August 1967 succeeding Abdel Mohsen Abu Al Nour in the post. Marei was in office until March 1968, and Mohamed Bakr Ahmed replaced him in the post. However, Marei was reappointed the minister of agriculture in May 1968 when President Gamal Abdel Nasser reshuffled the cabinet.

Marei was appointed deputy prime minister for agriculture and irrigation in November 1970. He was named as the secretary general of the Arab Socialist Union on 16 January 1972 replacing Mohammed Abdul Salem Al Zayyat in the post.{{cite news

|title=New Prime Minister for Egypt|access-date=14 October 2023|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS67728945/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=97a4cd7d|work=The Times|issue=58377|date=17 January 1972|location=Cairo}} With this appointment Marei left his deputy premiership. He became an advisor to the President Anwar Sadat in April 1973.

Marei was made the speaker of the Parliament in 1974, replacing Hafiz Badawy in the post. He also served as the secretary general of the World Food Conference held in Rome, Italy, in November 1974.{{cite news|author=Peter Nichols|title=World resolve to end hunger in a decade|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS135625586/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=21bf2ac9|access-date=14 October 2023

|work=The Times|issue=59247|date=18 November 1978|location=Rome}} Marei's term as speaker of the Parliament ended in October 1978, and he was succeeded by Sufi Abu Taleb in the post. Then Marei was again named as the advisor to the President Anwar Sadat. He was one of the political figures of the Sadat era who developed economic policy of the country. He adopted a politically liberal and socially conservative leaning during this period.{{cite journal|author=Raymond A. Hinnebusch|title=Egypt under Sadat: Elites, Power Structure, and Political Change in a Post-Populist State|journal=Social Problems|date=April 1981|volume=28|issue=4

|page=453|doi=10.2307/800057|jstor=800057}}

Marei resigned from his post of the presidential advisor in 1981 shortly after the assassination of Anwar Sadat and the election of Hosni Mobarak as president.

Marei married a daughter of his father's nephew. They had five children. Marei and his wife were related to Zakaria Mohieddin, a member of the Free Officers Movement, who married one of their cousins. Marei's youngest son, Hassan, married Noha Sadat, daughter of Anwar Sadat, in Alexandria on 7 July 1974.{{cite news

|title=Anwar Sadat with his family|url=https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/uic_rjdaley/id/10180/|date=15 October 2020

|website=carli.illinois.edu|access-date=14 October 2023}}{{cite news|title=Sadat's Daughter Married|work=The New York Times

|date=8 July 1974|location=Cairo|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/08/archives/sadats-daughter-married.html|access-date=14 October 2023}}

Marei was among the Egyptian officials who were wounded in the attack on 6 October 1981 when the President Anwar Sadat was killed in a military parade in Cairo.{{cite news|author=Peter Hopkirk|title=Middle East turmoil after Sadat's assassination by own soldiers|work=The Times

|page=1|issue=61049|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS17140039/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=ff1b9e9c|access-date=14 October 2023|date=7 October 1981}} Marei died on 22 October 1993.{{cite web|website=marefa.org|language=ar|title=سيد مرعي|access-date=14 October 2023|url=https://www.marefa.org/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B9%D9%8A}}

Marei was awarded by the University of Washington an honorary doctorate in 1960. He was also awarded a Syrian medal in 1958 and the Grand Cross of Greece.{{cite web|title=أنور السادات|website=sadat.bibalex.org|language=ar|access-date=14 October 2023|url=http://sadat.bibalex.org/Special_Collections/SpecialCollection_DetailTabs.aspx?prid=14&TabName=Event}} He was the recipient of the Order of the Republic (1980).

Robert Springborg, a faculty member of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, published a book on Sayed Marei in 1982. It is entitled Family, Power, and Politics in Egypt. Sayed Bey Marei-His Clan, Clients, and Cohorts.{{cite book|author=Robert Springborg|title=Family, Power, and Politics in Egypt|year=1982|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia, PA|isbn=9781512807547|url=https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512807547|doi=10.9783/9781512807547}}

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Category:1913 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:Cairo University alumni

Category:Agriculture ministers of Egypt

Category:Arab Socialist Union (Egypt) politicians

Category:Deputy prime ministers of Egypt

Category:20th-century Egyptian engineers

Category:Egyptian agriculturalists

Category:Agricultural engineers

Category:People from Sharqia Governorate

Category:Speakers of the Parliament of Egypt