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Lawrence (Larry) Shaben (March 20, 1935 – September 6, 2008) was a Canadian politician of Lebanese descent.

He was the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Lesser Slave Lake from 1975-1989 representing the Alberta Progressive Conservatives.

Shaben was the first Arab and the first Muslim MLA elected in Alberta and the first Muslim Cabinet Minister in Canada. He served Minister of Housing and Minister of Utilities and Telephones under Premier Peter Lougheed and as Minister of Economic Development and Trade under Don Getty.^[1][2] In 1984, Shaben survived the plane crash that killed fellow MLA and Alberta NDP leader Grant Notley.^[3]

In 2005 he was appointed a citizenship judge. Though no longer living in High Prairie, the Shaben family name is still very well-respected and fondly remembered.^[who?]

His grandfather, Saleem Sha'aban (Sam Shaben), arrived in Alberta before World War I^[4] and in 1925 opened a general store in Endiang, Alberta subsequently sending for his wife and son to join him from Lebanon.^[5]

Shaben's father, Albert, was 13 when he left Lebanon to join his father and became his business partner. The family moved to Edmonton in the mid 1940s after Alberta's first mosque was opened there. In 1949, Albert co-founded Shaben & Hamdon with his brother-in-law Mo Hamdon. In 1980 their Edmonton-based wholesale company was purchased by his older brother Edward Shaben and became Canada's largest toy distributor and is now known as Shaben International.

In 1989 he sold his three story house to the Mouallem family, and is currently owned by the Town Manager Larry (and Janet) Baran.

On September 6, 2008, Shaben died following a long bout with cancer.^[6][7][8][9] A public memorial service is slated to occur on Monday, September 15, 2008 with a private gathering the previous Friday.^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing

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