Mahmoud El Materi

Mahmoud El Materi
Born	Mahmoud El Materi December 1897 Tunis, Tunisia
Died	December 13, 1972
Nationality	Tunisian

Mahmoud El Materi (December 1897 – December 13, 1972) was a Tunisian physician and politician. He was the first president and one of the founders of the Neo Destour.

Biography

El Materi was born in Tunis to a bourgeoisie family of Turkish descent.^[1] In 1927 he was one of the first Muslim graduates of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Paris. With Habib Bourguiba, El Materi belonged to the core of the founders of the Neo Destour (Ksar Hellal Congress of March 2, 1934), the ancestor of the Constitutional Democratic Rally, and he was chosen by his peers to become the first president of the party, a position he held for four years, until 1938.^[1]

Personal life

With his engagement in economic and political pursuits, El Materi enabled the upward movement of his family; his nephew, Moncef El Materi (father of Sakher El Materi), shifted from a military career to a business one. With another brother, Tahar El Materi, Moncef established in the early 1970s a pharmaceutical firm called Al Adwya, one of Tunisia’s biggest private drugs companies today.^[1]

References