Prominent UAE businessman, Easa Saleh Al Gurg, passes away

Easa Saleh Al Gurg, chairman of UAE-based Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group and the first Emirati banker, has passed away.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took to Twitter to condole his death.

“Our condolences to the family of Issa Saleh Al Gurg, and to the community of Dubai and the UAE society on his death, the first Emirati banker and one of the faces of Emirati diplomacy,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

تعازينا لأسرة عيسى صالح القرق وتعازينا لمجتمع دبي ومجتمع الإمارات بوفاته .. أول مصرفي إماراتي .. وأحد وجوه الدبلوماسية الإماراتية .. وأحد أهم رجال اقتصادنا الوطني .. وأحد أصحاب الجمعيات الخيرية والإنسانية بالدولة .. رحمه الله وأسكنه فسيح جناته .. إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون .. pic.twitter.com/MvXVYqv1EB

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) March 31, 2022

The group is one of UAE’s most eminent family businesses with 27 companies in its portfolio. The group has businesses in retail, building and construction, industrial and real estate.

Besides his business interests, Al Gurg has also played a significant role in shaping the history of the UAE as a member of the Deliberative Committee of the Trucial States Development Office. In 1971, he was appointed as the executive director of the Trucial States Development Board.

He was Ambassador to the UK and the Republic of Ireland from 1991 till 2009. Easa Saleh Al Gurg was awarded CBE (Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1990. He has also been honoured by Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late former President of the UAE, with the Order of Zayed II in 1997, the highest civilian order in the UAE. He also set up the Al Gurg Charity Foundation in 2010.