Mr. Geroge Banna

                            Recognized

                          as the Chaldean Community Person of the Year 2006
                            in the Field of Professional Excellence in Scholarly Literature

Whereas Mr. George Naoum Yousif Francis Sulaiman Albanna was born in Mosul, Iraq in the town of almayasa (miskanta) on January 6, 1920.  After high school, he joined the High Institute for Finance and Economics, Law School thereafter.  He is fluent in Arabic, English and speaks French and some German.  He married Mary Matloub in June of 1947, interestingly: three bishops attended his wedding ceremony.  Mr. Banna has 4 children: Na’mat, Nashat, Nahla, and Najdat, all married and with total of 7 grandchildren. Although he had made many visits to the US in his life, he did settle in San Diego in 1990.

Whereas Mr. Banna has spent countless hours through 40 years collecting information about the Chaldean history.  He has used various sources in different languages: 460 Arabic, 120 English, and 130 French.  This man truly believed in his mission to search for historical facts, and to pass it to the future generations.  There are maybe many who claim to be Chaldeans but they are very few who actually know the history of Chaldeans.  His plan is to compose a Chaldean Encyclopedia of which, he already published his book: History of Chaldeans, his second the List of Chaldean Patriarchs is under printing and it will be out by Christmas. 

Whereas In addition to his great accomplishments in contribution to the Chaldean history, Mr. Banna is an artist, has many drawings & paintings.  He has many hobbies such as collecting antiques, has visited 55 counties, and wandered in 524 cities. He has a collection of more than 6000 souvenir items of ancient places in the world collected throughout his journeys.

Therefore, it has been resolved by the Awarding Committee of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle to be recognized as the Chaldean Community Person of the Year 2006 in the Field of Professional Excellence in Scholarly Literature.                                                                                                                    

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 + Bishop Dr. Sarhad Yawsip Jammo