Mr. Kysia was born in Baakline, Lebanon on March 5, 1934. He immigrated to the United States in 1953, and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he received a Master’s Degree in History. Following his graduation, he taught American history and civics at Ferndale High School, in Ferndale, MI, from 1959-1966. From 1966-1970, Kysia worked in Kenya with Teachers for East Africa, a State Department/USAID-funded program that helped train secondary school teachers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. He married Nido El-Awar in Lebanon in 1967, and returned to Ferndale High School with his growing family in 1970. In 1978 he left teaching to join his sister Nadia and her children in running the Mediterranean Bakery in Alexandria, Virginia. As general manager, he helped build the Mediterranean Bakery into one of the premier Middle-Eastern markets in the DC-area before he retired in 2017.
Educator, entrepreneur, beloved father, loving grandfather, devoted brother, uncle, and friend, Sleiman is survived by his sons Ramzi and Kareem, grandsons Yusuf and Yaseen, sisters Nadia Chway, Sara Beauleau, Lisa Taymuree, and Lydia Najjar, brother Joseph Kysia, and many nieces, nephews, and dear friends. A private graveside service will be held by his immediate family in Virginia later this week.
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