BEIRUT: Kamal Salibi, the most respected Lebanese historian of his generation, died in Beirut Thursday morning at the age of 82.

Born in Beirut on May 2, 1929, and raised in Bhamdoun, Salibi was educated at International College and the American University of Beirut. He earned his doctorate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His thesis, entitled “Maronite historians and Lebanon’s medieval history,” was supervised by noted Orientalist Bernard Lewis.

Upon his return to Beirut, Salibi taught history until the mid-1990s. In 1999, the Department of History and Archaeology appointed him emeritus professor. In 1994, he co-founded the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman, Jordan, where he served as director from 1997 until 2004. Since then, Salibi has continued his research from his apartment in Hamra.

“The Modern History of Lebanon” (1965) and later works cemented Salibi’s status as an authority on modern Lebanese history.