Mostafa Abdel Hamid el-Abbadi was born on October 10, 1928, Cairo, and died on February 13, 2017, Alexandria.
He was a prominent historian of Greco-Roman Egypt and an Egyptian public intellectual.
Before his death, he was the Emeritus Professor in Classics at the Alexandria University, he was credited with proposing the revival of the ancient library of Alexandria, a project embraced by UNESCO in 1986 and completed in 2003.
Mostafa El-Abbadi was later critical of some of aspects of the project as realized by the Egyptian government, telling the New York Times that the library was at risk of becoming “a cultural center” rather than fulfilling its “promise as a world-class research center.”
Mostafa El-Abbadi was a recipient of the Order of the Nile, El-Abbadi is a member of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture (SCC), Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), and l’Institut d’Égypte.
Mostafa El-Abbadi was the President of the Archaeological Society of Alexandria and is an advisor to UNESCO.
He received his education in Egypt and the United Kingdom, El-Abbadi holds a BA from the Alexandria University and a special BA and PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Mostafa El-Abbadi also holds an honorary doctorate from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
El-Abbadi died in Alexandria.
Mostafa El-Abbadi passed away at 88 years old.