Obituary

After not being able to eat or drink for days, his last discernible word was

“Hallelujah”

Dad lost his mother at the age of 16, and his father (a hard-working pickle-seller) at the age of 19. Dad was the youngest of 5 children. Dad sang “Ana Mish Waheed” (I am not alone) at his Father’s Funeral.

At the age of 14, poverty forced Dad into vocational-technical school (instead of high school), but he academically excelled to the point that he was scholarshipped to an Engineering college (rare for vo-tech students).

Dad married Mom (a chemistry teacher) at age 26, and they had two boys. In 1975, Mom’s risk-taking faith propelled them to immigrate to the U.S. Dad worked as a Mechanical (Ammunitions-Design) Engineer with the United States Army in New Jersey.

In 1983, feeling the need to improve his income so that he could educate his two boys, Dad bought one motel (eventually two) in Port Jervis, New York – which he and Mom operated until 2010.

By 1985, Dad obtained his Master’s degree in Business Administration and they added a daughter to the family.

Dad was a flag-waving U.S. patriot. In 1998, while still running two motels, Dad became a paid FBI interpreter focused on anti-terrorism eavesdropping (work he said he would have done for free – because the terrorism threat against the U.S. was so imminent).

Dad had a stroke in 2000, and he could not interpret after that.

Prior to his stroke, dad was exceptional. He was a math-wizard, a language-wizard (fluent in English, German, and Arabic), author of 3 Christian books, talented in all aspects of building construction, and very generous (he even once bought a building for a church in Egypt). He was an inspiring leader and hero to many.

Dad is survived by his wife- Nadia Rizkallah, his children- Matta and Laura Rizkallah, Mouhab and Laura Rizkallah, Christine and Randall Snyder, and his 13 grandchildren, Isaac, Jacob, Alice, Lydia, Leah, Luke, Samuel, Nathan, Thomas, Sophia, Gideon, Annaviolet, and Matthew.

Dad sculpted us to live joyous, sophisticated, generous, and wise lives.

But the single-most important thing to him was always very clear –

Our ever-praising souls – “Hallelujah!”