It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Salah Elmaghraby, an INFORMS Fellow and a leader in operations research. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. It would be wonderful for you to share your memories of Dr. Elmaghraby here, with stories and photos.
Our History and Traditions committee has posted an oral history with Dr. Elmaghraby here.
Salah Eldin Elmaghraby
October 21, 1927 - June 12, 2016
Dr. Salah Eldin Elmaghraby passed away at age 88 at his home in Raleigh, NC, after a long illness during which he was surrounded by family and caregivers. A resident of Raleigh since 1967, he was born in Egypt and received his degree in Mechanical Engineering at Cairo University. Anyone who met him was immediately struck by his inquisitive mind and strong aptitude for his studies. After graduation, he worked briefly in Cairo, accepted the prestigious post of teaching assistant at the faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, and then traveled to Europe in 1949 with the Egyptian Railroads Foreign Inspection office as their quality control inspector. While in Europe, witnessing the upheaval of the aftermath of WWII and Communism, he truly understood the value of education and the power of knowledge. This conclusion drew him to pursue graduate studies in the United Sates where he first attended Ohio State University for his Masters and then continued onto Cornell University’s PhD program in Mechanical Engineering.
Upon graduation, he was a Research Leader at the Western Electric Engineering Research Center in Princeton, NJ., an Associate Professor at Yale University and later was recruited to start up and head the Operations Research department at North Carolina State University in 1967, later becoming a chaired University Professor at his beloved institution.
He was a Visiting Professor at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; the University of Alexandria, Egypt; the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium; University Lyon I, France; the Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, PRC. He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University Lyon I, France. He has written 4 books, two of which were translated into Japanese and Romanian; edited/co-edited 3 books including the Handbook of Operations Research which was translated into Russian; authored/co-authored 8 book chapters, wrote 11 book reviews, and authored/co-authored over 118 scientific papers. He is a registered PE, a Fellow of the IIE and INFORMS, and a member of APICS and NSPE.
He was a pillar of every community he touched; his university, his professional societies, and the Egyptian community in Raleigh he helped found and grow, and his family. He sincerely loved to connect with others, was excited by the prospect of learning new ideas from different cultures and disciplines, shared of himself selflessly and worked tirelessly to accomplish any cause he deemed worthy. He gave his time and effort freely to others, and because this is rare, it was noted and appreciated. He was an avid reader, a passionate sailor and a lover and patron of the Arts. His open-mindedness and appreciation of all subjects and jobs that made him a true scholar and a wonderful father.
He leaves a legacy of a thriving Operations Research department at NCSU and a legion of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students around the world. Dr. Elmaghraby is survived by his wife, Amina, his two daughters: Wedad Jasmine and her husband Caglar Ozden and their three children, Nuray, Nedim and Leyla; and Karima Noor with her husband Ismail Radwan, and their 2 sons, Zackaria and Zain; and his sisters Zeinab and Amina. No one who met Dr. Elmaghraby did not know about his family and how important they were to him. Above all, his wife Amina was his constant partner in all of his endeavors.
------------------------------
Mary Leszczynski
Design & Brand Manager
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
------------------------------