The Nassour Family Papers Collection
The Nassour Family Papers Collection (1937-2002) is now online! This collection tells the story of Herbert Nassour, a Texas-born Lebanese American scholar, veteran, and community doctor and surgeon.
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. After a recommendation from a colleague on a visiting professorship, Nassour attended medical school at the American University of Beirut starting in 1937.
Nassour was also a boxer; he was the Heavyweight Texas Golden Gloves Champion for two years and won two heavyweight titles in 1937 during his professional boxing career throughout Europe.
Following medical school, he served in the Armed Services from 1943 to 1946. He spent ten months with the 38th General Hospital, a unit of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. He then embarked on a fifteen-month mission in Saudi Arabia, where he served as a consultant and house physician to Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, the kingdom’s monarch.
After being discharged from the Army, Nassour 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.
For more information about Nassour’s life and work as a surgeon in Texas, watch our documentary, Herb Nassour: The People’s Doctor, below.
Nassour married Hoda Ziade in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1941. The couple had twins, Paul and Paulina, followed by children Mary, Fay, Herbert III, Jimmy, Virginia, and Sam. His second marriage was to Gloria Medel in 1978. They had three more children: Paloma, Lisa, and Art.
Featured Items
Photo: Herbert Nassour and Classmates Posing Outside of AUB
Newspaper: “Dr. Nassour and the Medical Establishment”
Letter: Letter from the Students of the American University of Beirut to Dr. Dodge
About the Donors
James Nassour, the son of Herbert R. Nassour, Jr., generously donated this collection to our archive. Herbert Nassour’s story is just one of many remarkable stories we have highlighted in our collections in alignment with our mission to preserve and share the stories of Lebanese immigrants in the US and throughout the world.
This archive is made possible thanks to the gift provided by Jimmy Nassour and Dina J. Tebcherany, MD, in honor of Hoda Z. Nassour and Herbert Nassour Jr., MD, in 2025.
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