The ‘Baron’ who left the world
i got to know the late faisal sultan bin isa in the mid-1960s when i was working at the gulf bank – the bank where he and his brothers owned a stake in the shares. through the bank itself, i got to know most of his brothers and siblings including badr, khaled, abdulaziz, anwar, abdullah, and the late jamil. his elder brother, the late mustafa, was also a member of the bank’s board of directors, and his father-in-law, the late khaled alyoussef al-mutawa (khaled of the orphans), was at the time the bank’s chairman.
during the nearly twenty years in the bank, i did not find any of them except for all good and love, and they were an example of good manners full of desire to help the needy.
the late faisal was a clever engineer as he, along with his brother abdulaziz and a third partner sought to establish the kuwaiti engineering office, which subsequently became one of the best engineering offices, and still is, in the middle east region distinguished in the scope of city planning, and that was the beginning of the accumulation of his wealth.
he was generous and smart and preferred to donate for scientific purposes such as medicine and others and if we had real scientific laboratories, he would have been at the helm of the donors as he spent 10 million dinars on building his specialist hospital in the al-sabah area.
although he suffered from heart disease, he lived for a relatively long time, and he knew the meaning of good life.
his diwan was always known for generosity and hospitality which is why he acquired the title of “baron” because he always chose the best and spent on obtaining it.
the late faisal, as was his wife, and his two brothers abdulaziz and anwar, were among the major supporters and donors of the ‘kuwaiti humanitarian friendship society’, without our request or favor from them.
when his brothers learned of the human friendship society’s intention to publish a condolence advertisement on the death of those who had the upper hand in supporting it, they asked us to spend the amount of the advertisement on support for the needy poor, and this is self-denial and a sincere sign of benevolence.
