Sami Yusuf Chway-Chway

Sami Yusuf Chway-Chway passed away on March 16, 2023. He was 77 years old. Sami was born in Baakline, Lebanon on January 2nd, 1946 to Yusuf and Nadia Chway-Chway. From when he was a boy, watching loaves of pita bread blossom in the stone ovens near his home in Lebanon, Sami had a life-long dream to open a bakery. In the 1970s, Sami began working for the Mayflower Company as a food and beverage manager and relocated to the DC area with his mother and siblings, Samia and Samir.

In 1977, the family took the money they had saved and leased a small shop in Alexandria, the Mediterranean Bakery, where Sami personally built the bakery's first brick oven, fulfilling his childhood dream. The business did very well and, building on his success, in 1982 Sami opened Fettoosh restaurant in Georgetown. Fettoosh was a huge success as well, and quickly became Washington D.C.'s premier Lebanese restaurant. It remained the top D.C. location for gourmet Middle-Eastern cuisine until Sami decided to close it in the early 2000's and retired.

Known for his boundless generosity with family and friends alike, as well as for his deep-seated and joyous passion for life, Sami will be truly missed. He is survived by his mother, Nadia and his sister, Samia, his aunt Sara and more nephews and nieces and cousins and friends -- in both the United States and Lebanon -- than can be counted.

Services for Sami will be held at Demaine Funeral home at 5308 Backlick Rd, Springfield, VA 22151 on

Sunday, March 19, 2023 from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM at Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Road, Springfield, VA 22151. Interment will follow at National Memorial Park, Falls Church.