Dr. Fuad Akil Rihani, 82, of Cary, NC, passed away peacefully Friday, June 26, 2020, surrounded by his beloved wife and children after a lengthy battle with cancer, fought with his characteristic faith, grace, and humor.
Born in Al-Husn, Jordan in 1937, Fuad was the sixth of eight children from Akil Odeh Rihani and Tamam Bdeweih Selameh Ayoub. He is preceded in death by his parents, sisters Maha and Juliet, and brothers Fouzi and Kamal. His other three siblings Jane, Awatif, and Jamal reside in Jordan, along with the rest of a large extended Rihani family.
In 1954, Fuad received a full US AID scholarship to study civil engineering at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, where he won the prestigious Penrose Award for scholarship, character, and leadership. It was also at AUB where he was introduced to classical music by a professor, beginning a lifelong love of and support for music within his family and community.
He returned to Jordan in 1959 with his bachelor’s degree and worked for four years there on highway projects before heading to Raleigh, North Carolina, to pursue his Masters degree in transportation engineering at North Carolina State University, under a Fulbright scholarship. In 1964, he returned to the Middle East, working on road and airport projects in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. By 1968, Fuad was once again at NC State for his doctorate in transportation engineering, which he earned in 1974.
Fuad’s professional life after his PhD included time with the NC Department of Transportation as Chief of Statewide Transportation Systems Planning, and with NC State University as an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering.
In 1978, he began a 40-year career in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Binladin Group, specializing in project research and development, a role that took him all over the world and allowed his professional and personal gifts to truly shine. He represented the company on several boards and association memberships in Washington, DC, and elsewhere. In audiences with kings, presidents, and every manner of dignitary, Fuad himself was a natural ambassador for his homeland Jordan, his profession and employer, and the country of which he was endlessly proud to call himself a citizen, the United States.
Of all his academic and professional successes, March of 1969 marked Fuad’s greatest life accomplishment, when he met and fell in love with Katherine Elizabeth Ketner of Hickory, North Carolina. Their story began as the result of a “computer dating” program run by the North Carolina university system, a story that friends and family never tire of hearing. They married a few short months later, on August 23, 1969. Last year they celebrated their 50th anniversary by taking a 40-day cruise around the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland and eastern Canada. Even though periods of their married life were spent apart while Fuad commuted between Hickory, NC, and Saudi Arabia for work, Fuad and Kathy created a life and love story all their own.
Everyone who knows Fuad knows that his family was his greatest joy. His and Kathy’s marriage produced three children, Elizabeth (married to Rami, living in Washington, DC), Kristin (married to Tom, living in Apex, NC), and John (married to Angie, living in Fishers, IN), and in turn six grandchildren: Hana and Alia (Elizabeth and Rami), Rachel and Thomas (Kristin and Tom), and Jenna and Grace (John and Angie). Fuad took immense pride in being called Granddaddy or “Koo Koo,” a nickname given to him by his grandchildren themselves and one that he reveled in. He was truly crazy in love with his grandchildren and never hesitated to be his most charmingly ridiculous self if it meant that he could see them laughing.
He and Kathy (Kee Kee to Fuad’s Koo Koo) drove countless miles to attend piano and voice recitals, elementary school graduations, Holy Confirmation services, and as many birthday celebrations as they were able. Grandchildren’s trips to their home in Cary or their beach home in South Carolina meant endless cuddles, lots of off-key singing, and Koo Koo’s famous stories, with which he could captivate even the wiggliest grandchild.
Fuad’s love of family and community extended far and wide. His support of his late mother and sister Jane began as soon as he began earning a paycheck after his undergraduate degree. His nieces, nephews, and other family members around the world all have stories of Fuad taking them out to dinner or shopping when he visited where they lived for work. He gathered his children’s friends in as his own and spoiled them accordingly. His travels allowed him to visit his family in Jordan regularly and be present for engagement parties, weddings, family celebrations, or an invitation to eat a mansaf, his favorite meal of lamb, rice and yogurt. Fuad was especially proud recently of helping to plan, fundraise for, and support construction of a Rihani Association building in Amman where large events and other gatherings can be held. He was also proud to be involved with several Jordanian-American associations in the United States.
Above all, Fuad will be remembered for his legendary generosity, effortless warmth and intelligence, his profound love of the Lord, and an unmistakable laugh that filled any room he was in. He will also be remembered for his love of music, his ability to recount family history, remember everyone he had ever met (including their children’s and parents’ names), napkin note jotting, his daily schedule and lists copied meticulously into his journals, the many faxes he continued sending in defiance of the digital age, the toothpicks he kept stashed in pockets, the house and car, and sneezes that could be measured only on the Richter scale.
When asked how he was doing, he would inevitably answer, “On top of the world!” That is the Fuad we will all remember, someone who made you feel like you were on top of the world, too, whenever you were with him.
Due to COVID-19 circumstances, a memorial service will be announced at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family encourages well-wishers to donate to Resurrection Lutheran Church, 100 W. Lochmere Drive, Cary, NC 27518; or Grace Lutheran Church, 4536 Hickory Lincolnton Hwy, Newton, NC 28658.
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