Victor Kassir

{{Short description|Lebanese businessman and politician (1910–1997)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Victor Kassir

| image =

| caption =

| office = Deputy Prime Minister

| term_start = April 1984

| term_end = September 1988

| primeminister = {{ubl|Rashid Karami | Selim Hoss}}

| predecessor =

| successor =

| office1 = Minister of Industry and Economy

| term_start1 = April 1984

| term_end1 = September 1988

| primeminister1 = {{ubl|Rashid Karami | Selim Hoss}}

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| birth_date = 1910

| birth_place = Beirut, Ottoman Empire

| death_date = 13 October {{death year and age|1997|1910}}

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Saint Joseph University

| spouse = Bert Merhej

| occupation = Businessman

}}

Victor Kassir ({{langx|ar|فكتور قصير}}; 1910–1997) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who was the deputy prime minister and minister of industry and economy between 1984 and 1988.

Early life and education

Kassir was born in Beirut in 1910.{{cite web|title=آل قصير|url=https://www.yabeyrouth.com/8214-%D8%A2%D9%84-%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%B1|publisher=Ya Beyrouth|access-date=6 February 2022|language=ar|quote=Citing Lebanese Ministerial Dictionary, p. 315}} He descended from a Greek Orthodox family.{{cite news|author=Thomas L. Friedman|title=Unity cabinet is named in Lebanon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/01/world/unity-cabinet-is-named-in-lebanon.html|work=The New York Times

|access-date=6 February 2022|date=1 May 1984}} He received a bachelor's degree in commercial sciences in 1930 from Saint Joseph University in Beirut.

Career

Following his graduation Kassir began to involve in business. In 1958 he was elected as a member of the Orthodox Finance Council. He headed the merchants association from 1972 to 1994.{{cite journal|author=S. Baroudi|title=Conflict and Co-operation within Lebanon's Business Community: Relations between Merchant's and Industrialists' Associations|volume=37|issue=4|page=78|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=2001|doi=10.1080/714004420|s2cid=154229674 }} He was a member of the advisory committee of the Banque du Liban, a member of the Beirut Club, and a board member of the Banque Libano-Francaise. In fact, Kassir was one of the owners of the latter together with Farid Raphael and the Kassar brothers, Adnan and Nadim.{{cite journal|author=Najib Hourani|title=Capitalists in Conflict: The Lebanese Civil War Reconsidered|journal=Middle East Critique|year=2015|volume=24|doi=10.1080/19436149.2015.1012842|issue=2|page=150|s2cid=144769983 }}

Kassir was the deputy prime minister and the minister of economy and industry in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Rashid Karami in the period 29 April 1984–22 September 1988.{{cite web|title=Former Ministers

|publisher=Ministry of Industry|access-date=6 February 2022|language=ar|url=http://www.industry.gov.lb/Ministry/PreviousMinisters/VictorKassir}}{{cite news|author=David B. Ottaway|title=Cabinet Proposed In Lebanon|date=1 May 1984|access-date=6 February 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/05/01/cabinet-proposed-in-lebanon/7a3c0de4-eefc-4259-84de-1b856bd259fc/}}