Ziad Beydoun, emeritus professor of geology at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and a leading authority on the geology of the Middle East, died on March 7, 1998, at age 73, surrounded by books, geological files, and new articles he had been reviewing the day before his death. He was born in Beirut on December 9, 1924. Ziad Beydoun is largely responsible for surveying and mapping the rock successions in most of the countries that comprise the Middle East, a task he accomplished through painstaking effort, a profound love for geology, and, above all, his remarkable personality.
In 1963, Louis Dubertret, the French field geologist and father of Lebanese geology, encouraged him to return to Lebanon and join the Lebanese Ministry of National Economy as a geological expert. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on his longstanding association with AUB. He was appointed full professor and chairman of the Department of Geology in 1970, as well as special advisor to the Council for Scientific Research. He remained in this position until 1985, when the situation in Lebanon further deteriorated; at that time, he moved to London, where he rejoined Marathon Oil, a company for which he had consulted over the years. While in London, he was appointed scientific director of a UNDP/World Bank project on the hydrocarbon study of the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden region. He insisted that the contract be made with AUB so that it might receive the financial benefits from his work on the project. Despite the horrors of civil war in Lebanon, he continued alone in the department and, against all odds, lectured and guided his students. His courage, resilience, and determination during those difficult times not only inspired a sense of hope for a better future among his students but left an indelible influence on generations of young geologists. Many of his former students now hold key positions in oil companies and the earth resource ministries of the Middle East. This constituted a great source of pride and joy, as well as a strong bond of friendships crossing the region, as he noted in his second book, Arabian Plate Hydrocarbon Geology and Potential—A Plate Tectonic Approach, published by AAPG in 1991 in the Studies in Geology series.
The AAPG’s Best International Poster award was established in 1990. The name of the award was changed to the Ziad Beydoun Memorial Award with the 2001 award.
In 1998, Mrs. Muntaha Saghieh-Beydoun (Dr. Beydoun's wife) donated the books, journals, and series that Dr. Ziad Beydoun had utilized throughout his career. This library was named in his honor to commemorate his remarkable contributions.
(AAPG Bulleting, V. 82, No. 10 (October 1988), P. 1876-1879.