Moustafa H. Abdelsamad remembered years of business leadership at A&M-Corpus Christi

Always dressed his best in a suit and tie, Moustafa H. Abdelsamad was a natural leader with a magnetic personality and sense of humor.

Abdelsamad died Jan. 2, 2024 at the age of 82. The former dean of the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi College of Business is remembered for his years of service to the university and his passion for business education in the Coastal Bend.

“I can’t think of anyone that has had a larger impact on the business community, both at the college and in the general community,” Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi professor Kent Byus said.

Abdelsamad led the College of Business for 22 years as dean. Including his time as a professor of finance, Abdelsamad spent 28 years total with the university. Under his leadership, the College of Business secured accreditation from the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in business and accounting.

“Had it not been for Moustafa, we would just probably be a rather small College of Business at a regional university,” Byus said. “That accreditation brings prominence, and it brings the ability to recruit and hire some of the best people in their discipline. Moustafa knew that when he came.”

He was also instrumental in securing the donation from Michael and Karen O’Connor that funded a new building for the college, dedicated in 2011.

“He had a wonderful way of making friends with people and selling them on what he was trying to do with the College of Business and helping them become part of that endeavor,” former university provost Tito Guerrero said.

Abdelsamad led efforts to establish the Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center in 2009 and oversaw the creation of an online master of business administration degree in 2011.

“He was totally devoted, first to his family, then to the College of Business and then to his friends and community,” Byus said. “...He was a leader and that was something that was evident and obvious with Moustafa.”

Abdelsamad was born on March 12, 1941 in Egypt. After completing his bachelor’s degree in 1961 at Cairo University, he came to the United States on a scholarship to study at George Washington University in 1962, where he earned master's and doctorate degrees.

In 1983, he married Mervat Abdelsamad, who moved to the U.S. from Egypt after their marriage. The couple worked together, including at the Society for Advancement of Management during their time in Corpus Christi. She died in 2009.

“He cared about myself, my brother and my mom beyond imagining and would do anything for us,” daughter Dina Abdelsamad said.

After spending time at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Virginia Commonwealth University, where he was a professor of finance and served in administrative roles, Abdelsamad came to Corpus Christi.

When Moustafa and Mervat first moved to Corpus Christi in the summer of 1991, they had two young children, Dina and Omar Abdelsamad, who were just starting elementary school.

Dina and Omar attended St. James Episcopal School, where Mervat worked at the school's office in development and Moustafa served on the school board for several years. The family was also involved with the Islamic Society of Southern Texas.

Moustafa remained an active member of the Corpus Christi community until he moved to Virginia in 2019 to be near his daughter Dina after his retirement from the university.

“Moustafa was someone that was widely respected to the point of being invited to be a guest speaker at various events and occasions,” Byus said. “Not only was he incredibly intelligent and very engaged with the community, but his sense of humor is known by virtually everyone who ever met him because he just had a way of putting a room and a group of people at ease, even just in one-on-one conversation.”

His humor was so corny, you couldn’t help but be captured by it, Byus said. He was always telling jokes, Omar said.

“He could get things done with his sense of humor,” Dina said. “If it was a difficult topic or something where people maybe weren’t agreeing, he could cut through it with his sense of humor.”

He was generous and kind, Dina said, and seemed to run into someone he knew everywhere he went.

“You would never see him in anything other than a suit and tie,” Dina said. “He was always professionally dressed for everything, even if we were just going to get something from My Favorite Muffin.”

He believed in following rules and making sure everything is done by-the-book, but was always the first to speak up if something was unfair, Dina and Omar said. Once, Dina recalls, an old high school acquaintance told her that Abdelsamad had helped him pay for a qualifying exam he couldn’t afford to take otherwise.

“He would be the one to stand up in the meeting and raise his hand and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t right,’” Omar said.

Abdelsamad was recognized as international business educator of the year in 2013 by the International Management Development association and received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who in 2019.

“The change that happened at the university over those 20 years, whether it’s the number of students, the facilities, the accreditation, the diversity of the student body – just imagine, every (business) professor until recently was hired by him.... I think that impact is huge,” son Omar said. “The volunteering community work he did was also very meaningful.”

One of his main passions was the Society for Advancement of Management, a non-profit organization focused on the study of management theory and practice. Abdelsamad was the organization’s longest serving president, leading SAM from 1983 to 1986 and again from 1996 to 2018.

He was also editor-in-chief of the SAM Advanced Management Journals from 1985 to 2017. At SAM, Moustafa and Mervat worked together, and Omar and Dina tagged along and volunteered at SAM conferences during their childhood.

In the Corpus Christi community and beyond, Abdelsamad was involved with the World Affairs Council, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, the National Conference for Community and Justice, the Corpus Christi Industrial Foundation and the Council of Texas Business Deans.

There are two scholarships in honor of Moustafa and Mervat Abdelsamad, the Dean Moustafa H. Abdelsamad Honorary Scholarship Endowment and the Mervat M. Abdelsamad Memorial Scholarship in Business, at the College of Business.

“Dr. Moustafa Abdelsamad devoted decades of service to the Island University as he helped shape the academic framework of our College of Business,” university President Kelly Miller said in a memorandum about Abdelsamad last week. “His unwavering commitment to student success along with his visionary leadership leaves an indelible mark on all those he encountered. He will be remembered not only for his integrity but also for his compassion, mentorship, and the genuine connections he cultivated with those around him. It was an honor to work with Moustafa and a privilege to call him my friend.”

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Moustafa H. Abdelsamad remembered for impact on business education