- Michel Aoun
Michel Naim Aoun (born 19 February 1935 in Beirut) is a Lebanese military commander and politician. From 22 September 1988 to 13 October 1990, he served as Prime Minister and acting President of one of two rival governments that contended for power. He was defeated by Syria in the war of liberation and forced into exile. He returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005, eleven days after the withdrawal of Syrian troops. Known as "The General," Aoun is currently a Parliament Member.
- Walid Jumblatt
Walid Jumblatt is the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party "PSP" of Lebanon and the most prominent leader of the Druze community. He is currently one of the most outspoken anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon and is allied with the March 14 Alliance, which includes the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Qornet Chehwan Gathering.
- Samir Geagea
Samir Farid Geagea born October 25 1952 is the leader of the right wing Lebanese Forces (LF) political party.He was imprisoned for 4114 days in solitary confinement from 1994 until 2005. He is currently one of the leaders of March 14 Alliance alongside Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt and Amine Gemayel.
- Pierre Gemayel
Sheikh Pierre Gemayel (November 6, 1905 – August 29, 1984) (last name also spelt Jmayyel, Jemayyel or al-Jumayyil, Sheikh is an honorific title in Arab countries), was a Lebanese political leader. He is remembered as the founder of the Kataeb Party (also known as the Phalangist Party), as a parliamentary powerbroker, and as the father of Bachir Gemayel and Amine Gemayel, …
- Bachir Gemayel
Sheikh Bachir Gemayel (also known as Sheikh Bachir Gemayel; first name also spelled "Bashir" and surname also spelled "Joomuyyeel") (Arabic: بشير الجميّل) was a Lebanese military commander, politician, and president-elect. He was born in Beirut, the son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the influential Lebanese Kataeb Party, also known as the Phalangist party, a right-wing nationalist organization that, …
- Amine Gemayel
Sheikh Amine Pierre Gemayel was President of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988. Born in the Lebanese village of Bikfaya, Amine Gemayel is the son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Kataeb Party. Gemayel was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly on September 21, 1982, to succeed his brother Bachir Gemayel who had been elected the previous month but had been assassinated before taking office.
- Omar Karami
Omar Abdul Hamid Karami (last name also spelled Karamé was the Prime Minister of Lebanon on two separate occasions. He was Prime Minister for the first time from December 24 1990, when Selim al-Hoss gave up power, until May 13 1992, when he resigned after massive protests when the Lebanese currency collapsed. He was sworn in again on October 21, 2004 and resigned on February 28, 2005, amid protests following the murder of the previous prime minister, …
- Camille Chamoun
Camille Nimr Chamoun (b. April 3, 1900 - d. August 7, 1987) was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958, and one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War (1975 - 1990).
- Nassib Lahoud
Nassib Lahoud is since 1995 considered to be the one of the most serious candidates for the presidency. Despite his defeat in the last parliamentary elections, he announced that he was prepared to run for president if the March 14 Alliance that holds a majority in parliament since the last elections backs him.
- Khalil Gibran
Khalil Gibran (also known as Kahlil Gibran; born Gibran Khalil Gibran, Arabic: جبران خليل جبران, Syriac: ܓ̰ܒܪܢ ܚܠܝܠ ܓ̰ܒܪܢ) (January 6, 1883 - April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese American artist, poet and writer. He was born in Lebanon and spent much of his productive life in the United States.
- Elie Hobeika
Elie Hobeika (Arabic:إيلي حبيقة) was a Phalangist and Lebanese Forces militia commander during the Lebanese Civil War trained and supplied by Israel. He turned later to a pro-Syrian politician and government minister in the post-war period. He is best known for his alleged role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982 and for allegations that the atrocities were committed in collusion with Israeli authorities. He was killed by a bomb in Beirut on January 24, …
- Elias Hrawi
Elias Hrawi was a former President of Lebanon, whose term of office ran from 1989 to 1998. He was a native of the Beqaa valley. He was elected on 24 November 1989, two days after the assassination of René Moawad, who had held office for just seventeen days. When his term was due to expire in 1995, the National Assembly amended the constitution to allow him to remain in office for another three years. Hrawi was born in Hawch Al-Umara, near Zahle, …
- Émile Lahoud
General Émile Jamil Lahoud is the President of Lebanon. He is the son of General Jamil Lahoud, a leader in the independence movement. His mother is of Armenian descent from the Armenian village of Kasab in Syria. Before being elected in 1998, he was Chief of Staff in the Army. As the nation's president, he is in command of the Lebanese army. He is currently the only Christian head of state of an Arab country.
- John Maron
John Maron was the first Maronite Patriarch. He is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church, and celebrated on March 2. John Maron was the son of Agathon, the governor of Sarum and Anohamia, grandson of prince Alidipas, who governed Antioch. He was educated in Antioch and the monastery of Saint Maron studying mathematics, sciences, philosophy, theology, linguistics and scripture. He became a monk at the monastery of Saint Maron, adding the name Maron to this own.
- May Chidiac
May Chidiac (born 1964) is a Lebanese Christian Maronite journalist. Chidiac is a television journalist at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, where she was also one of the station's main television anchors until the assassination attempt on her life. She was one of the few critics of Syria's hegemony over Lebanon. Syria kept troops stationed in Lebanon even after the end of the Lebanese Civil War and the Taif accords which stipulated that Syria withdraw from Lebanon.
- Dany Chamoun
Dany Chamoun (August 26, 1934 – October 21,1990) was a prominent Lebanese politician. A Maronite Christian and the younger son of former President Camille Chamoun, Dany Chamoun was also a politician in his own right, and was known for his opposition to the occupation of Lebanese territory by foreign forces, whether Syrian or Israeli.
- Charles Helou
Charles Helou was President of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970. Born in Beirut, Helou was the scion of a powerful Maronite family from Baabda. He graduated with honours from St. Joseph's University in Beirut in 1929, and went on to complete a Law degree in 1934. Helou was also a successful businessman and founded two French language newspapers, "L'Eclair du Nord" and "Le Jour." In 1936, he made his first foray into politics, …
- Dory Chamoun
Dory Chamoun (b. 1931) is a Lebanese politician who leads the National Liberal Party, and is also a prominent member of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, a coalition of politicians, academics, and businessmen who oppose the pro-Syrian government of President Émile Lahoud. Dory Chamoun is the elder son of the late Camille Chamoun (1900-1987), who was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958.
- Charles Rizk
Charles Rizk, born in Beirut in 1935, is a Lebanese Maronite politician. A student at the prestigious Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Rizk began his political career as an aide to President Fuad Chehab. Rizk was Lebanon's representative at the Francophonie and head of the national information agency. In July 2005, new Prime Minister Fouad Siniora controversially appointed Rizk as Justice minister, a post claimed by Michel Aoun and also by Saad Hariri.
- René Moawad
René Moawad was President of Lebanon for 17 days in 1989, from the 5th to the 22nd of November, when he was assassinated. A Maronite Christian noted for his moderate views, Moawad had given some citizens hope that the long civil war in Lebanon could be ended. Chawki Choveri, Lebanon's UN representative, said that "This is the major catastrophe of the years of catastrophies we have had so far.
- Suleiman Frangieh
Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh, last name also spelled "Frangié," "Franjieh," or "Franjiyeh,", was President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976. His presidency saw the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, which raged from 1975 to 1990, as well as the start of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, which continued until 2005.
- Raymond Edde
Raymond Eddé (Arabic: ريمون إدّه) was a Lebanese statesman who served his country for many years as a legislator and cabinet minister. He led the Lebanese National Bloc, an influential political party. The son of former President Émile Eddé, Raymond Eddé was himself a candidate for the presidency in 1958, and was proposed for the post on numerous subsequent occasions. He is remembered for having held consistent views, …
- Marcel Khalife
Marcel Khalife (b. 1950, Amchit, Mount Lebanon) is a Lebanese, Maronite , composer, singer and oud (an Arabic lute) player, considered a Palestinian among the Palestinians, a Southerner among the South Lebanese and most commonly "an Arab musician". From 1970 to 1975, he taught at the conservatory in Beirut. In 1976, he created "Al Mayadeen Ensemble" and became famous all over the world for songs like "Ummi" ("My Mother"), …
- Philip Habib
Philip Charles Habib (February 25, 1920-May 25, 1992) was an American career diplomat known for work in Vietnam, South Korea and the Middle East. The "New York Times" in observing his passing described him as "the outstanding professional diplomat of his generation in the United States". Habib was born in Brooklyn and raised there in section of the borough known as Bensonhurst, by Lebanese Maronite Christian parents.
- Emile Edde
Émile Edde was a Maronite Lebanese political figure. He served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from 11 October 1929 to 25 March 1930. He served as the President of Lebanon from 1936 to 1941. He also founded the Lebanese National Bloc party.
- Karim Pakradouni
Karim Pakradouni, born in Beirut on August 18 1944 to an Armenian Catholic father and Maronite mother, is a Lebanese Christian attorney. He has been a leading figure in the Kataeb Party since 1968 when he became head of its student wing. He was elected to the party's political bureau in 1970 and remained in the party's top echelon, leading the so-called "Arabist" faction of the Phalange which favored close ties with Syria.
- Charbel
Saint Charbel, born as Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in Bekaa Kafra (North Lebanon), was a Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk now venerated as a saint. After his death many people saw mysterious lights over his grave, and it became a common site for pilgrims to visit. He was taught by father Nimatullah (who later became Saint Hardini) in the Seminary of Kfifan between 1853 and 1856.
- Bechara el Khoury
Bechara El Khoury (Arabic: بشارة الخوري) was the first post-independence President of Lebanon, holding office from 21 September 1943 to 18 September 1952, apart from an 11-day interruption (11-22 November) in 1943. He had previously served two brief terms as Prime Minister, from 5 May 1927 to 10 August 1928 and from 9 May to 11 October 1929.
- Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir
Mar Nasrallah Boutros Cardinal Sfeir is the patriarch of Lebanon's largest Christian body, the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. He was elected Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites on April 27 1986, after the resignation of Cardinal Anthony Peter Khoraish. His official title is His Holiness the seventy-sixth Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant.
- Pierre Amine Gemayel
Pierre Amine Gemayel (Arabic: ; commonly known as Pierre Gemayel Jr., Pierre Amine or simply Pierre Gemayel; September 24 1972 - November 21 2006) was a Lebanese politician in the Kataeb Party, better known in English as the Phalange Party. Lebanon's second-youngest MP, he was a rising star in his party. He was a vocal critic of Syria's military presence in and political domination of Lebanon, …
- Solange Gemayel
Solange Gemayel is a political figure and former First Lady of Lebanon. The widow of former President-elect Bachir Gemayel (1947-1982), who was assassinated days before he was due to take office in 1982, she helped to found the Bachir Gemayel Foundation, to keep his legacy alive. A Maronite Christian, Solange Tutunji married Bachir Gemayel in 1977. Their first daughter, Maya, was born the following year.
- Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas (January 6 1914 - February 6 1991) was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom "Make Room for Daddy", later retitled "The Danny Thomas Show" to capitalize on Thomas's popularity. Danny Thomas was born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yaqoob in Deerfield, Michigan, to Charles and Margaret Jacobs. He was of Lebanese descent, of Maronite Catholic belief.
- Tony Frangieh
Antoine Frangieh was a Lebanese politician and militia leader during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War.
- Jihad Azour
Jihad Azour, born in 1966, is a Lebanese Maronite politician. An economist and former student at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, he is the nephew of veteran diplomat and politician Jean Obeid. Azour is associated with the Current for the Future party led by Saad Hariri. Azour's involvement in government began in 1999, when he served as a consultant to Finance minister Georges Corm on the introduction of a value added tax.
- Fuad Chehab
Fuad Chehab (name also spelt "Fouad Shihab", or "Chehab", depending on transliteration from the original Arabic, 1902 - April 25, 1973) was President of Lebanon from 1958 to 1964. Born in 1902 to a Maronite Christian family of noble ancestry, General Fuad Chehab became commander of the Lebanese Army in 1945, after Lebanon gained its independence and upon the ending of the French mandate and military presence.
- Mai Ghoussoub
Mai Ghoussoub (2 November 1952 - 17 February 2007) was a Lebanese writer, artist, publisher and human rights activist. She was the co-founder of the Saqi bookshop and publishing house. Ghoussoub was born in Beiruit, where her father, Antoine Ghoussoub, a Maronite Christian Arab, was a professional footballer. She studied at the French lycée in Beirut, then maths at the American University of Beirut and French literature at the Lebanese University, …
- Youssef Karam
Youssef Beik Karam, was a Lebanese nationalist leader who led the nationalist effort against the Ottoman occupation. He was born to Sheikh Boutros Karam (Lord of Ehden and surrounding district), and Mariam (daughter of Sheikh Antonios Abi Khattar Al Ayntouri) in Ehden, Lebanon. He was French educated and at the age of 7, he was well versed in Aramaic, Arabic, French and Italian languages. He trained in unarmed combat, horse riding, shooting and fencing.
- Maurice Gemayel
Maurice Gemayel was a Lebanese politician who was often a minister and Maronite MP for Metn, was a prominent figure for the Kataeb Party which was founded by his cousin, Pierre Gemayel. His positions were more moderate than many other members of his own party. He was elected head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for two consecutive terms. Highly educated, he was a genius and was considered by many to have been born 50 years too soon.
- Ignace Pierre Viii Abdel-Ahad
His Beatitude Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad is the current Primate of the Syriac Catholic Church (or Syrian Catholic Church), the Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East of the Syrians. They are one of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians. He was made Primate and Patriarch 16 February 2001. He lives in Beirut.
- Butrus Al-Bustani
Butrus al-Bustani was a notable Arab writer and scholar. He is best known for creating the first modern Arabic encyclopedia, and founding the National School in Beirut. Born a Maronite Christian in Dibbiye, Lebanon, he studied under American missionaries and converted to Protestantism. He first began teaching at missionary schools, but founded the National School in 1863.