Concordia mourns the passing of Ragai Ibrahim
It is with great sorrow that the department of biology announces the passing of Distinguished Emeritus Professor Ragai Ibrahim on Sunday, the 19th of November 2017.
Dr. Ibrahim was a truly eminent professor in the department of biology for 35 years. He was a driving force for excellence and for the development of the department, an internationally recognized expert in the field of plant secondary metabolism, and a dear friend to the many colleagues and students who knew him and worked with him over his career.
Dr. Ragai Ibrahim was born in 1929 in Heliopolis, a district of Cairo, Egypt. He obtained his BSc Honors degree in botany and chemistry from the university of Cairo in 1949, and then worked in industry for 6 years. He returned to the university and earned an MSc in plant physiology from the university of Alexandria in 1958 and moved to Canada.
In 1961, he obtained a PhD in plant biochemistry from McGill university under the supervision of professor Neil Towers and returned to Egypt as a faculty member at the university of Alexandria.
He returned to Canada in 1967 and initiated his long academic career as a professor in the biology department of Sir George Williams university, one of the two founding institutions of Concordia.
In the vast field of plant secondary metabolism, Dr. Ibrahim focused on studying flavonoids, a group of organic compounds that play important roles in UV light filtration, defense against microbes, signals for plant microbe interactions and that also contribute to the nutritional and medicinal quality of foods. His laboratory was instrumental in the discovery of many novel enzymes in flavonoid metabolism in plants including methyltransferases, glucosyltransferases and sulfotransferases.
His lifelong research career resulted in more than 170 refereed publications, 40 review articles and book chapters, and training of over 30 graduate students and research associates. Many of his students went on to successful careers as university professors and leaders in industry.
He received international recognition and numerous honours for his outstanding contributions to plant biochemistry, which included President and Honorary Life Member of the Phytochemical Society of North America, Alexander von Humboldt Scholar in 1975, Groupe Polyphenols Medal in 1992, Canadian Society of Plant Physiology/La Société Canadienne de Biologie Végétale (CSPP/SCBV) Gold Medal, 2004, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Concordia university.
As a generous and inspiring scientist, he created prizes for graduate students in CSPP/SCBV, the Groupe Polyphenol and the biology department of Concordia university.
Dr. Ibrahim retired from teaching in 1997 and actively continued research as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus and trained graduate students and postdoctoral fellows until recent years.
Dr. Ibrahim was the second child from a family of five children. He is survived by Lilian, his beloved wife of over 50 years, his younger sister Samira, younger brother Nabil, six nieces and seven nephews.
Ragai was a dear and generous friend to all who had the good fortune to work with him. He is missed.
A memorial service will be held from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 25th at the Loyola Chapel (7141 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6).