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ALUMNI AFFAIRS
From left are David Fawal ’86, Joe Fawal ’73, Abe Fawal ’54, and Alex Fawal ’16.
A family tree full of BSC roots
Generations of Fawal family thrive on legacy
Very often, the Birmingham-Southern experience is shared among multiple generations of
immediate and extended family members. We’d like to introduce you to one such family whose
roots run deep on the campus.
Dr. Ibraham “Abe” Fawal ’54
moved to Birmingham in 1951 to attend BSC, enrolling as a
sophomore. His cousin
,
Dr. Isa Fawal, and his wife, Tarri (both now deceased), also relocated from
Ramallah, Palestine, to the U.S. in the ’50s. Isa’s sister,
Hala Fawal ’70
, and brother,
Joseph “Joe”
Fawal ’73
, came with them. They originally settled in Washington, D.C., but moved to Birmingham,
where Isa did his medical fellowship.
Abe and his late wife, Rose, had three of their four children attend BSC:
Gina Fawal Jaber ’86
of Alameda, Calif.,
Freeda Fawal Farah ’89
of New York City, and
Rima Fawal Hartman ’90
of
Birmingham. They also have 11 grandchildren. Abe’s nephew is
Dr. Peter Harb ’78
of Birmingham.
Isa and Tarri also had four children, two of whom are BSC graduates:
David Fawal ’86
and
Dunia
Fawal Ritchey ’89
, both of Birmingham. The couple also leaves behind 14 grandchildren, including
David’s son,
Alex Fawal ’16
. ’Southern magazine recently sat down with Abe, David, and Alex for a
cross-generational conversation.
As for continuing to build on the family’s links to Birmingham-Southern, David’s 17-year-old
daughter, Hannah, hopes to study media and film studies in college and has applied to several
schools. And, yes, BSC is one of them.