Ghazi Sabir Ali FICE, FEI. FRSA obituary
Born 1934, died 2017. A graduate of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Ghazi passed away peacefully with his family by his bedside on 26 January 2017
He was born on 12 November 1934 in Mosul, Iraq. As a young man he completed the Iraqi Baccalaureate with top marks which secured him an Iraqi state scholarship to study in the UK.
After completing his ‘A’ Levels in 1955, he was accepted by the University of Sheffield to study BEng Civil Engineering and graduated in 1958. In 1959 Ghazi and his wife, Valerie (nee Willoughby), BSC (Hons) Biochemistry 1958, moved to Iraq.
On completion of his National Service, Ghazi joined the North Oil Company (NOC) in Kirkuk as a junior civil engineer and rose through the ranks, despite never holding any political affiliations, to become Chairman and Managing Director of NOC. He was responsible for all oil production in the northern half of Iraq, covering the extraction, processing and pumping to the Iraqi border, leading a workforce of 10,000. His energy, passion and commitment ensured the delivery of innumerable engineering projects and humanitarian endeavours that stand as testimony of his loyalty to his people and his country.
On his retirement he and his family moved to the UK and settled in Bath where he became actively involved in his local community. Among other contributions, he became a Trustee of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, an active member of the Liberal Democrats and a dedicated campaigner for the Stop the War Coalition.
Over the past few years of his life he had become increasingly affected by Alzheimer's. He leaves a wife, five daughters, 7 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.