Nassour Family Papers 1937-2002

The Nassour Family Papers collection 1937-2002 is now online! This collection tells the story of Herbert Nassour, a Texas born, Lebanese American. Herbert R. Nassour, Jr. was born in Lockhart, Texas in 1917 to Mary Moses and Herbert Nassour, Sr. He attended the University of Texas in 1936. Even with high grades, he was turned down by the two Texas medical schools, Baylor in Dallas and John Sealy in Galveston, because they would not accept non-whites.

Nassour attended medical school at the American University of Beirut starting in 1937. When he was young, Nassour was a boxer. He was the Heavyweight Texas Golden Gloves Champion for two years. He won two heavyweight titles in 1937 and boxed as a professional throughout Europe.

Following medical school he spent three years 1943-1946 in the Armed Services. Ten months of which was spent with the 38th General Hospital, a unit of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Fifteen months were spent on a mission in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, he served as consultant and house physician to Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, the monarch of Saudi Arabia.

After being discharged from the Army, Herbert worked as an Assistant Surgical Resident at St. Paul’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Then as Chief Resident and Senior Surgical Resident for two and a half years.

Nassour married Hoda Ziade in Beirut, Lebanon in 1941. The couple had twins Paul and Paulina, Mary, Fay, Herbert III, Jimmy, Virginia, and Sam. His second marriage was to Gloria Medel in 1978. He had three children: Paloma, Lisa, and Art.

This collection includes photographs, letters, medical papers, and newspaper clippings and articles about Herbert Nassour and his family.

This collection is arranged in the order it was received.

This collection is open for research and contains digital material. Digital material in this collection is provided on the Khayrallah Center Archive’s website for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. For any questions regarding the materials, please contact the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies Archive at kcldsarchive@ncsu.edu.

[Identification of item], Nassour Family Papers, KC0045, Hoda Z. Nassour and Herbert R. Nassour Jr., MD, Archive of Lebanese Diaspora

This collection was donated by James Nassour in 2019

Preliminary processing completed by Amanda Forbes 2019. Processed by Katelyn Cuomo 2026. Image processing completed by Najma Mohamud 2026 February. Finding aid created by Katelyn Cuomo 2026 February.