TUWAYJIRI--Sheikh Abdulaziz, 95, possessed of a spectacular
mind and renowned as a man of state and a man of letters,
died June 10th in Riyadh after an epic life nearly
encapsulating the Arabian century. Born into turbulent times
in the then fledgling Sultanate of Nejd, battle by battle he
witnessed the late Abdulaziz Ibn Saud's recapture of his
forebears' former domains and their transformation into the
planet's pivotal oil power, the eponymous Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. Sheikh Tuwayjiri's career, as a soldier, finance
officer, Deputy Commander of the National Guard, Royal
Counsellor, and roving Minister of State spanned seven
decades and six reigns. An autodidact, a poet and mentor of
poets, a bibliophile and patron of public libraries,
literature and strategic studies, he published two dozen
volumes of both prose and Arabic verse, gaining the
sobriquet, "The Ink of Arabia". At Harvard's JFK School of
Government and London University two chairs are endowed in
his name. He is survived by six sons, a large extended
family, the people of Majmaa, the Mutayr tribe, and a vast
and varied global acquaintance, among them American longtime
friends. A singular man, he shall sorely be missed. Lt. Gen.
Richard D. Lawrence Peter A. Iseman David E. Long Salem O.
Afyouni
Published in the New York Times on 7/1/2007.
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