Family and friends are mourning the loss of popular Rotarian and ex-financier Adnan Al Sharabi, who died on Wednesday due to natural causes.
The prominent Bahraini of Palestinian origin passed away due to natural causes at age 88, while at his home in Barbar, surrounded by his loved ones.
He was buried at the Hoora cemetery last night.
According to an announcement shared by the family, condolences will be accepted today and tomorrow from 3pm to 8pm at the Sharabi residence – Villa 26, Road 20, Entrance 66, Block 524, Barbar Gate, Barbar.
Born on January 3, 1938 in Jaffa, Palestine, Mr Al Sharabi was a self-made man, rising from selling kites and working at soap and box-making factories in Palestine to a top banker with Arab Bank.
Mr Al Sharabi was married to Faye for 54 years, after meeting at the White Earth Lutheran Bible camp in Minnesota, USA, in 1971.
According to a previous interview, Mr Al Sharabi was a volunteer for a government project named Upward Bound aiding Native American students, and Faye, a South Dakotan of Norwegian and German descent was working as a lifeguard at the camp.
After a whirlwind romance, they got married the following year in a quaint South Dakota church. The pastor who married them, Paul Larson, remains a friend.
Their journey together took them across the US, from North Dakota to New Jersey, and eventually overseas to Greece before settling in Bahrain, where Mr Al Sharabi worked at the Arab Bank.
Together, they raised their daughters – Karima, Yasmin and Jenine – in Bahrain.
“One of the things I will always fondly remember about my father was the way he would tell jokes,” Yasmin told the GDN.
“The one about the Italian who went to Malta ... I must’ve heard it hundreds of times and I could still hear it again now.
“And watching people’s reactions was everything. Watching them hang on every detail while he painted this whole picture.
“He had this presence, this charisma. He was such an exceptional orator. In so many things, really, but with jokes? He had a gift and he was never, ever shy. He was really fearless.”
Mr Al Sharabi was also fond of sharing stories from Palestine – both his own memories and the factual ground reality of the place.
“He’d share his memories of Palestine, of the place itself, and he was so factual, so structured, so eloquent, so impassioned,” Yasmin added.
“When he talked about the past, about history, you could feel how proud he was. Proud of his heritage, his country, his land.”
In his spare time, Mr Al Sharabi was fond of carpentry and fixing broken things. He also had a fondness for electronics and gadgets – flashlights, clocks, all kinds of lights – which he would turn around and gift to people.
“He would assume everyone else loved them just as much as he did,” Yasmin added.
“And honestly, I didn’t always value them the way he did.
“But it’s something I’m thinking about now. He really struggled to part with things too, he held onto them because he wanted to be able to gift them to someone someday. That was just such a strong part of his personality.”
Mr Al Sharabi was also an active Rotarian committed to community service under the Rotary Club of Salmaniya (RCS).
“It is incredibly hard to lose someone who could always bring light and laughter into a room,” RCS past president Sebahat Isık added.
“A great sense of humour is such a beautiful, rare gift – it leaves behind warm, vivid memories, but it also makes the absence feel that much quieter.
“Over three decades, he became a well-known and highly respected fixture in both the kingdom’s banking sector and its local community. His dedication to service, combined with an unforgettable presence, leaves an indelible mark on the island he called home for more than three decades.
“He will be greatly missed, but his legacy of fellowship and service will not be forgotten.”
The legacy his daughters Karima, 46, Yasmin, 45, and Jenine, 40, as well as his grandchildren Noha Barbir, 19, Bashir Barbir, 16, Leila Sharabi, five, and Mae Sharabi, two, are most likely to remember is his artistic soul, his integrity, honesty and intense loyalty.
“He believed that my sisters and I, his daughters, should be able to study and do whatever we wanted with our lives – that’s why we all focused on art,” Yasmin explained. “It was because of him and my mom. They let us follow our dreams. And he worked so hard to be able to make that happen for his family and to be able to provide for us.”
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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