Jack Sarkis Baramikian

Jack was born in Mar Mikhael, and went to the Armenian Djemaran School in Antelias. He was smart and witty, and always achieved great school results with little effort. He spoke four different languages, Arabic, English, French and Armenian.

He studied Business Marketing at the American University of Science and Technology (AUST), and worked as a waiter to help cover his tuition fees. After his graduation, he was offered a permanent position at SGBL Bank, eight years ago.

Jack was passionate about sports and football, he took good care of his physical fitness, training and eating healthy.

He was rather quiet, but his reserved character did not stop him from making friends in the neighborhood. He was on good terms with young people in his area. Jack was generous, he loved new things, and above all, he loved life.

On the first of August, and while his mother was outside Lebanon for the last nine months, Jack decided to move her parked car, to park it at his aunt's house in Broumanna, protecting it from dust and sunlight. Ironically, he saved the car from the explosion, but could not save himself.

On that awful day, Jack was near the window, chatting with his friends over the phone, and they were wondering about the sounds that preceded the explosion at the Port of Beirut… Seconds later Jack and his fiancée, who was with him at the time, went offline. Doors blew up, windows shattered, walls turned into rubble, nothing stayed in place. The ambulance could not reach the area as roads were blocked with rubble and debris. A nurse walked in, on foot, but Jack had already passed away.

Jack's mom learned about an explosion near Forum de Beyrouth, in close proximity to Mar Mikhael, from a message on his brother's phone. She turned on the TV and watched the news about the explosion at the Port of Beirut. She felt a tightening in her chest, and called the neighbors asking them to save her son…

When her message reached her neighbors, he was already found dead.

Jack's corpse was kept at Al-Zahraa Hospital's morgue for four days, until his mother arrived to Lebanon, to receive her son's dead body, and say her final goodbyes.