Cheerful, welcoming and always smiling—that is how students and coworkers remember Bachar El Tabbah, events management coordinator at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Center, who passed away in his sleep on September 30 due to natural causes at the age of 32.

“His smiling face will always be missed around at the Student Center,” said Ahmed Malik, a senior at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. For Malik and many other students who worked with him, El Tabbah was not just a supervisor, but a “mentor, a guide, and a friend to all.”

On Monday more than 40 students, faculty, staff and friends gathered at the Orange Suite in the Student Center to honor his memory. Ameena Hussain, director of student life at the center, led the gathering and asked people to write messages in a notebook that will be handed to his family. The attendees also recited a prayer for El Tabbah.

El Tabbah belonged to a Lebanese family and lived with his parents in Qatar. He had studied at Balamand University in Lebanon where he received a bachelor and a masters of fine arts degree, with a specialization in advertising. Prior to working in Qatar, he spent three years at the Lebanese International University teaching graphical design courses, visual communications, drawing, sketching, typography and design software. He had also recently been teaching community classes at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar because of his background in the arts. He had worked at the Student Center for the past five years.

For his colleagues, El Tabbah was an expert in events management, as well as a talented artist. “Bachar was a wonderful and kind colleague who, in his professional work, managed all of the aspects of events within the Student Center,” said Melissa Winter, the assistant director of student engagement at the Student Center. “He had a keen eye for detail and did a great job managing all of the various events that happened here.”

“He was the catalyst that made things happen. He was the go-to man in any event that was happening at the HBKU student center,” said David Moore, head of public relations at Qatar National Research Fund, who participated in the gathering.

As a student worker supervisor, one of El Tabbah’s most distinctive qualities was his genuine effort to motivate those working under him, students said. “He organized a dinner for front desk student workers every semester to make us feel appreciated. He did that every time,” said Zaki Hussain, a former student employee at the HBKU Student Center and a junior at Northwestern University in Qatar. “He loved to know more about his employees and how we were doing. He was someone I did not want to disappoint.” El Tabbah was the first person to hire Hussain for a job in Education City in his freshman year. Hussain attended El Tabbah’s funeral last Friday to mourn with his family members, friends, and colleagues.

“He loved Bollywood and he used to love to travel,” said Christina Williams, events and guest services officer at the Student Center.

Hussein announced that in a few days the HBKU staff will place a donation box at the Student Center. “We are trying to collect donations to dig a well in a place of need in memory of Bachar, so his legacy continues and good deeds in his name continue,” she said. The staff are in the process of identifying a charity organization that will benefit from the donations.

“I hope he is in a better place now. He will definitely be missed. It would be so weird walking into the Student Center and not bumping into him. Rest in peace, Bachar,” said Carol Ketchijian, senior administrative coordinator in the office of admissions at Texas A&M University at Qatar.