The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies regretfully announces the loss of Dr. Mahmoud Abdulfadeel (1941-2017), a renowned Egyptian scholar of development economics who had also served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ACRPS (March, 2012-January, 2013). 

Dr. Abdulfadeel passed away on Thursday, March 2 at an age of 76 years, in his hometown of Cairo. During his long life of public service, Abdulfadeel had worked at a number of Arab and international institutions devoted to economic development, including Kuwait’s Arab Planning Institute and the World Bank, before joining the academic faculty at the University of Cairo’s Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, in addition to lecturing at the American University in Cairo and a number of western institutions. Abdulfadeel had first entered Cairo University as an undergraduate, before moving to Paris where gained a PhD at the Sorbonne in 1965, and an eventual move to an academic post at the University of Oxford. 

Abdulfadeel’s numerous, and influential, contributions to the Arab discourse surrounding economic development will be remembered not only for their academic value, but also for his clear and unwavering support for social justice. His books covered the history of social classes in the Arab world, crony capitalism and Egypt under globalization. His latest work was The Story of a Generation, the Crisis of a Homeland, a memoir written in the wake of the Arab Spring. The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies will cherish the memory of Mahmoud Abdulfadeel, his contributions to the Arab region and its economic development, as well as his earlier involvement with our own Board of Directors, which he chaired following the death of the late Khaldun Al Naqeeb.