Former president of the editors syndicate Elias Aoun. (Credit: NNA)
The Editors Syndicate announced on Monday the death of one of its former presidents, Elias Aoun, calling it "the departure of a great trade unionist, journalist and writer."
"Lebanon loses, in Elias Aoun, a brilliant pen in the service of Lebanon, its freedom and its message of coexistence and unity," the text said.
Originally from Jezzine, Aoun was elected twice as head of the union, in 2012 and 2015. His list had lost the elections to that chaired by Joseph Kosseifi, the current president of the union, in 2018. Kosseifi was the first to announce "with immense sadness" the death of his predecessor in a press release distributed by the state-run National News Agency.
Aoun, born in 1935, began his career as a journalist in 1957, working for several newspapers including L'Orient. In the 1970s, he became head of the publishing house "Dar alf layla w layla," which supervised publications such as La Revue du Liban, Monday Morning and al-Bayraq . He also had several books to his credit.
"Former president of the union Elias Aoun is absent from the world of journalism at a time when the country would have had the greatest need of his pen, his generosity, his dedication and his professionalism," according to the order's statement.
The funeral will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 12:00 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Church in Sami al-Solh, Badaro. The burial will take place in his native Jezzine, in the Saint Joseph Church, at 3:00 p.m.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.