Politician. He was a respected Lebanese leader. A native of Beirut, Lebanon, he was a member of the prominent Gemayel family of politicians, which included his father, Pierre Gemayel. His father helped found the Lebanese Kataeb Party or Phalangist Party, while his nephew, Pierre Gemayel was a popular Christian leader and his brother Amine Gemayel was a former Lebanese president, and his widow Solange Gemayel, who is an activist. Known also as Sheik Bachir Gemayel or Bachir Gemayel, he was educated at the St. Joseph University in Beirut, the American and International Law Academy in Dallas, Texas, and the Lebanese Modern Institute where he received a law degree in 1971, and a degree in Political Science in 1973. Interested in politics at a young age, Gemayel joined his father's Kataeb Party in 1962. He was briefly kidnapped in 1970, but was later freed. He went onto serve as Inspector in the Kataeb Regular Forces, President of the Kataeb Military Council, and later became a member of the Lebanese Front. A noted lawyer and military leader as well, Gemayel helped found the BG Squad of the Lebanese militia, and successfully led the Hundred Days War against Syria in 1978. A year later, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb was left in his car. Unfortunately, his young daughter was killed. A hero by the Lebanese people for his many achievements, he decided to run for President of Lebanon. On August 23, 1982, he was elected president by the National Assembly with 57 votes out of 92. On September 14, 1982, nine days before he was to take office as president, Gemayel was assassinated at the Kataeb Party Headquarters in Achrafieh, Lebanon, with at least 25 other people. A member of the pro-Damascus Syrian Social Nationalist Party, later confessed to the crime. Gemayel was laid to rest in Bifkaya, Lebanon. He was succeeded as President by his brother. The Bashir Gemayel Foundation was founded in his memory by his widow Solange. On November 21, 2006, his nephew Pierre Gemayel Jr. was also assassinated, and was laid to rest next to Bashir in Bifkaya.