Tributes have been pouring in for Antoine Choueiri [1], founder and chairman of the Choueiri Group, who died yesterday afternoon following a long illness.
TBWA/Raad chairman and CEO Ramzi Raad, says, “March 9, 2010 is surely a turning point in Middle East media history, as it will always be remembered as the day when its ‘knight in shining armour’ exited the battlefield for the last time.
“Antoine Choueiri charted new courses for advertisers, advertising agencies, media owners, publishers, planners and buyers across the Arab world.
“His reconciling spirit and generosity touched the majority of players in the communications industry in this part of the world, hence his loss will continue to echo for years to come.”
Lance De Massi, president of the IAA UAE chapter and president of The American University in Dubai, says, “The business model he invented helped shape an industry, fueling its prosperity in good times and survival in times bad. His efforts caused the pie to grow and provided advertisers and consumers with media options that would never have been sustainable without his commercial imagination and support. Many a communications agency owes its size to Antoine Choueiri.”
Marwain Kai, head of MIS Gulf, says Antoine Choueiri was "the most compassionate, humble, caring person one could meet. He cared about people, people he knew well and people he hardly knew. I cannot ever recall anybody approaching Antoine for a cause and ever being turned away; he used everything in his means to help and do good. The industry as well as humanity has lost a very good man. It’s indeed a very sad day."
Speaking in his capacity as ABG chairman, Louis Hakim, Philips Middle East CEO, says, “The death of Antoine Choueiri is a big loss to all of us and to the industry as a whole. He was a friend to everybody and a man of great vision that led the industry to where it is today. Antoine was one of a kind and will certainly be missed.”
Mark Butterfield, head of media, Unilever NAME and arguably the region’s largest advertiser, says that that the death marked “the passing of an industry icon who dragged Middle East media onto the world stage and shaped how media is transacted today.”
He was a man who the bigger picture for not only his clients but all clients, he added. “A sad and regrettable loss of a business partner and friend.”
Alex Saber executive vice-president, and COO of Publicis Groupe Media described Choueiri as, “a visionary who laid the foundation stones of the Arab media landscape – after all, he created what we have today. Antoine is an institution, a glowing torch for the industry, and leaves a legacy in very safe hands.”
Memorial and Mass services for Antoine Choueiri will be held at St. George Maronites Cathedral in Downtown Beirut on March 11 at 11.00am. He will be laid to rest in his hometown of Bcharre. Condolences will be received at St. George Maronites Cathedral in Downtown Beirut on March 10, 12 and 13 from 10.00am till 7.00pm.