Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), died on Nov. 2. Cause of death was not released. He was believed to be 86.
Born in Abu Dhabi town, Zayed was named after his famous grandfather, Zayed the Great, who ruled the emirate from 1855 to 1909. Zayed was the youngest of four sons of Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1922 to 1926. After his father's death in 1927, Zayed guided foreign crews into the desert to search for petroleum and served as the governor of Al Ain, an oasis area. In 1966, Zayed rose to power when his brother Sheikh Saqr was deposed in a bloodless coup.
Over the past four decades, Zayed turned Abu Dhabi into a progressive nation, one that welcomes expatriates of all faiths and allows a private media to thrive. As the country's oil revenues increased over time, Zayed funneled some of that wealth into a massive construction program to build schools, housing, hospitals, cities and roads. He also encouraged a society of sexual equality; women serve in the country's military and in law enforcement, and 99 percent of Abu Dhabi's girls attend school.
Although Zayed amassed a fortune worth an estimated $20 billion, he always lived modestly. He married six times and fathered at least 40 children. A passion for hunting with falcons led Zayed to write the book "Falconry: Our Arab Heritage," which was published in 1977. Zayed also supervised a program to breed 80 animal species and plant more than 150 million trees. The Worldwide Fund for Nature acknowledged his efforts in 1997 with the Gold Panda Award, its highest environmental prize.
Zayed has led the UAE since its formation in 1971. On Nov. 3, the UAE unanimously elected his eldest son Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan as the new president.
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