Features

Father and son Murad and Jamil Baroody, legends in pharmacy and diplomacy

By MainGate Staff

Fall 2020/Winter 2021

When he died in 1979, Jamil M. Baroody (BA Chemistry ’26) was lauded as “a wise and enthusiastic guardian of the ideals and objectives of the United Nations” in recognition of his extraordinary career at the UN: he was the senior member of the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 30 years. Jamil’s association with the UN dates back to 1945, when he was one of 20* AUB alumni (graduates and former students) who attended the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco that established the world body.

Jamil’s father, Murad (BA Chemistry 1874, MA Pharmacy 1879), was also well known during his lifetime. He was fluent in four languages (Turkish, English, French, and Arabic) and established what became the largest retail and wholesale pharmacy in Beirut serving not just the residents of Beirut but also visitors to the region. The pharmacy is mentioned, for example, in the 1892 edition of Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine, a popular guidebook at the time. One of the people who visited Murad’s pharmacy was Silas Mainville (S. M.) Burroughs, the celebrated American-British pharmacist who cofounded the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Company with Henry Wellcome in 1880. Burroughs traveled widely, including to Syria. In a letter he sent to the Chemist and Druggist, the leading journal for pharmacists, in 1891, he described a visit to Murad Baroody’s pharmacy in Beirut. Burroughs noted that there were many well-known English products for sale, including Howards quinine and cocaine, Pears soap, and Eno Fruit Salt. Murad also sold and exported locally sourced products, including essential oils, soap, olive oil, and orange-flower water.

Murad Baroody

In addition to being a world-renowned pharmacist, Murad was also very interested in archaeology. Although he had no formal academic training in the discipline, his excavations in Tell el-Husn, south of Souk El-Gharb, were impressive enough that SPC/AUB awarded him an honorary master’s degree in 1914. Murad donated two Greek inscriptions to the AUB Archaeological Museum before he died that are still part of the museum’s collection: a white sandstone tombstone from Beirut that is displayed outside the entrance of the museum, and a basalt slab from southern Syria that can be seen just inside the entrance (under the stairs) of Post Hall.

Jamil Baroody and Ambassador Bush at the UN 1971

When Murad died in 1918, his much older brother, Bahij
(MA Pharmacy ’14), took over the pharmacy. Jamil worked briefly at the pharmacy after he graduated from AUB before moving to London and then on to New York and a career in diplomacy and public service. Jamil never lost his interest in chemistry, though. His son Robert still has a couple bottles of a perfume (Bouquet Bayou) that his father formulated a long time ago.

* List of the 20 AUB alumni/former students who attended the 1945 San Francisco Conference:

Iran
Ghassem Ghani (MD 1919)

Iraq
Abdul Majid Abbas (student 1934) Mohammad Ibrahim Adham (student 1939) Darwish Al-Haidari (student 1927) Abdul Jabbar Chalabi (student 1926) Salih Mahdi Haidar (student 1933) Fadhel Jamali (BA 1927)
Hashim Jawad (BA 1932)
Majid Khaddouri (BA 1932)

Lebanon
Angela Jurdak Khoury (BA 1937, MA 1938)
Zobhi Mahmassani (student 1924)
Charles Habib Malik (BA 1927)

Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Abdul Jabbar (BA 1943)
Jamil M. Baroody (BA 1926)

Syria
Naim Al-Antaki (student 1924)
Fares Al-Khouri (BA 1897)
Nazem Al-Koudsi (student 1920)
Raja F. Hawrani (student 1925)
Toufik Huneidi (student 1940)
Farid Zeineddine (BA 1925)