Edmond Gharios

Edmond Mikhaël Gharios (Arabic: إدمون مخائيل غاريوس) born in Chiyah (Karm ez Zeitoun) on February 18, 1958 was Head of the Municipality of Chiyah from May 1998 to December 2008.

He is the son of late Mikhaël Selim Gharios and Salwa Lamaa Lamaa. He has five brothers (Assaad, Antoine, Nazih, Elie and Roger) and one sister (Roula). He is also the son-in-law of minister and Parliament Member Michel Murr and the brother-in-law of minister Elias Murr.

The Gharios family is one of the most socially and economically prominent families in Lebanon rooting back their ancestries to the Sheiks Chemor of Kfarhata. Their religion is Maronite Christian and they are of direct legitimate ascendancy of the Christian Ghassanids. Their hometown is Chiyah, a predominantly Christian town located in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut bordered by Haret-Hreik, Ghobeiry, Hadath and Furn-el-chebbak.

Edmond Gharios went to College Notre-Dame de Jamhour for his primary and secondary studies where he graduated in 1976. He joined l’Université Saint-Joseph of Beirut where he got a Bachelor in Business Administration in 1979. He then traveled to Paris and graduated from Paris Dauphine University in 1980 with an MBA.

In 1981 he married Lena Murr, and Elie and Nabil were born in 1984 and 1988 respectively. He joined LibanJus sal, the family business founded in 1960 by his father late Mikhaël Salim Gharios and specialized in the production of Fruit Juices and Ice Creams where he worked, along with his siblings, to the development of this establishment to become one of the most prominent factories in Lebanon and compete with local and foreign companies in the Lebanese and world markets. In 1995, he founded as well the Mount Lebanon Hospital in Hazmiyeh, together with his siblings and under the patronage of his father, Mikhaël Gharios.

In 1998, he ran for the first time for the post of head of the municipality of Chiyah with the support of all his fellow villagers and won with a clear majority. In 2004, he got elected again thanks to the hard work he have always done to reconstruct and refurbish this region that has been destroyed during the war, and transform it into a fully developed region at the economical and social levels.

Edmond Gharios invested all the skills he gained during his several trips abroad into the development of his region and worked in a way that all the inhabitants profit from his experience. He especially devoted a lot of time for the elders, the children and the youth working for the realization of their dreams and goals at different levels: education, health, development and economy.

In December 2008, he resigned from his post of Head of the Municipality of Chiyah to prepare his electoral campaign to enter the Lebanese Parliament to one of the three Maronite seats of Baabda District on June 7, 2009.