Hisham Hafiz

Hisham Hafiz or Hashim Ali Hafiz (28 April, 1931 - 26 February, 2006) was a Saudi Arabian newspaper publisher and author. He is best known for co-founding the "Arab News" and his Saudi Research and Publishing Company published 16 newspapers and magazines at the time of his death. He has also written a number of collections of poetry and nonfiction.

Early career

Hafiz was born in Medina where his father and uncle founded the "Al-Madinah" newspaper in 1937. He and his brother Mohammad Hafiz worked at the paper during school holidays. He studied economics and political science at Cairo University while undertaking military studies at The Egyptian Military Academy completing his studies in 1955.

After serving as a lieutenant in the Saudi Army, he became an officer in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He became the Editor-in-Chief of "Al-Madinah" in 1961 before King Faisal nationalised Saudi newspapers without compensation in 1963. The Saudi Government banned him from working as a journalist after a couple of years so he rejoined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Saudi Research and Publishing

He founded Saudi Research and Publishing in 1971 with Mohammad Hafiz. They saw the potential from ecomic growth attracting expatriates from aroung the world. Their first publication was the "Arab News", the first English language daily in Saudi Arabia with the first edition published in 1975. The success of the "Arab News" led to the publication of an international Arab newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat" in 1978. Today, the "Arab News" and "Arsharq al-Wasat" are published internationally and the "Arab News" is also published on the Internet.

The success of these publications led to Saudi Research and Publishing developing a number of publications catering to both Saudi citixens and expatriate workers from India and Pakistan.

Writer

In 1991, he published his first volume of poetry "Words with Rhythm" with four volumes of that name published during the 1990s. He has also written a number of books on religious issues while in 2002 he cowrote "How Nations Lose Immunity Against Tyranny" with Jawdat Said and Dr Khales Jalbi.

References

* [http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=78470&d=27&m=2&y=2006 "Arab News", "Hashim Hafiz passes away 27 February 2006]

* [http://www.hishamalihafiz.com/bio.htm Hisham Ali Hafiz webpage]

* [http://www.ameinfo.com/78922.html AME Info fn "Saudi media pioneer dies" 27 February 2006]