Samih K. Farsoun

Samih K. Farsoun "professor emeritus of sociology at American University, where he taught for 30 years until his retirement in 2003, died June 9 [2005] of a heart attack while on a walk with his wife in New Buffalo, Mich., where he had been visiting. He was a resident of Washington...

"He served as a founding member and president of the Association of Arab American University Graduates and founding member of the Arab Sociological Association. He was editor of Arab Studies Quarterly; a member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Holy Land Studies; a founding fellow of the Middle East Studies Association; board member of Partners for Peace, formerly the American Alliance for Palestinian Human Rights in Washington; and board member of the Middle East Children's Alliance in Berkeley, Calif.

"Dr. Farsoun was one of the first members of the board of directors of the Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and of the executive committee of the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, now the Palestine Center, both based in Washington. He was a founding member of the Trans-Arab Research Institute in Boston.

"He is the author of six books about the sociology and politics of the Middle East, including "Palestine and the Palestinians" (1997). An updated Arabic edition of the book was published in Beirut in 2003. He also wrote "Culture and Customs of the Palestinians" (2004)."

• Advisory Council (2002), Center for the Global South