Obituaries

Jack Saliba RIP

by George Galdies

Known to his family as Papi and Grandad and to his friends as Jacko, Jack Saliba was born on 22nd November 1936 in Izmir. He was the son of Louis Saliba and Willemina (Willy) Saliba née Sorby.

Jack and his brother Tony grew up in the Alsancak district of Izmir, which at the time of his birth was still called ‘La Punta’ by the Levantine community that had been living there for generations; first under Ottoman Rule, and then under the newly created Turkish Republic which was established as a consequence of the First World War. The Saliba family had arrived in what was previously Smyrna around the middle of the 19th Century from British Malta.

Jack, as with most Levantines, attended St Joseph’s French school for Catholic boys. Being ten years my senior in age, I had not known him as a fellow pupil, but I do remember his parents and him as they were our neighbours, and I still have a clear memory of him as a goalkeeper for the (non-official amateur) team made up of mainly Italian and Maltese players, and perhaps one or two of the few Greeks that had managed to remain in the country. He was known to us as Jacko.

In due course he married Marie Armao and moved to Istanbul to run his own transport company. Jacko and Marie had two daughters Josy and Doris who together gave him six grandchildren and one great granddaughter Alba, who was born in 2020 and was a great source of joy that sustained him during his long illness.

Having lost touch with Jack for nearly fifty years I had the pleasure of meeting up with him and often with our common friend Peter Papi in London, when we had the opportunity of reminiscing. Jack was great company, a sociable human being whose presence was also much appreciated by fellow parishioners at St Joseph’s RC Church in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire where he had settled the last ten years of his life.

Due to the Pandemic restrictions a large crowd could only participate virtually in his beautiful funeral Mass during which, members of his family recounted numerous highlights of the life of this caring, generous, and much loved family man.

May He Rest In Peace.