Joseph Cattaui

{{Short description|Egyptian businessman and politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Joseph Aslan Cattaui Pasha <br /><small>يوسف اصلان قطاوي باشا</small> | image = Joseph Aslan Cattaui Pasha.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1862|3|20}} | death_date = {{Death date|1942|5|12}} | occupation = Industrialist, Politician | alma_mater = Ecole Centrale Paris | spouse = Alice Suares | children = Ince Cattaui, Aslan Léon Cattaui, René Jacob Abbas Cattaui<ref>{{cite web |title=Family card |url=https://www.farhi.org/wc17/wc17_478.html |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref> }}

'''Joseph Aslan Cattaui''' Pasha (20 March 1862 – 1942) was an Egyptian businessman and politician, who served as President of the Jewish community of Cairo from 1924 until his death in 1942.<ref name="Annuaire">{{cite book |title=Annuaire des juifs d'Egypte et du Proche-Orient |date=1942 |publisher=Le Caire |location=Société des éditions historiques juives d'Égypte |pages=248–249}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=THE HOUSE OF YACOUB CATTAUI |url=http://www.hsje.org/Egypt/TheHouse-ofYacoubCattaui.html |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref>

==Life and professional career==

Joseph Aslan Cattaui was born in Cairo on 20 March 1862, the fourth of twelve children of Aslan Menasce Cattaui Pasha and Grazia Benroubi.<ref>{{cite web |title=Family card |url=https://www.farhi.org/wc17/wc17_424.html |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref> He studied engineering at the École Centrale Paris, graduating with a diploma in 1882.

On his return to Egypt, he briefly joined the Ministry of Public Works, before departing to Moravia, where he trained in a sugar refinery. Back in Egypt, he became an associate of Suarès Frères & Co., and contributed to work on the construction of the Helwan railway, the water works at Tanta, the Société des sucreries. In 1904, he founded the Wadi Kom Ombo Company, a huge agricultural and land holding company, in collaboration with Suarès Frères, and Sir Ernest Cassel.<ref name="Vitalis">{{cite book |last1=Vitalis |first1=Robert |title=When Capitalists Collide: Business Conflict and the End of Empire in Egypt |date=1995 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520302358 |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O7nADwAAQBAJ&q=wadi+kom+ombo+societe&pg=PA38 |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref> In 1920, he co-founded Banque Misr, with Talaat Harb Pacha and others, and joined its board of directors.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2023-06-21|title=Banque Misr Annual Sustainbility Report 2015/2016|url=https://www.banquemisr.com/-/media/AnnaulReport2015-2016.pdf|website=banquemisr.com}}</ref>

==Political career==

Cattaui was raised to the rank of Pasha in 1912. In 1913, he was elected as member of the legislative assembly, and continued in his mandate until the assembly's dissolution in 1922. A year earlier, he had been appointed to the 32-member commission that worked on drafting the Egyptian constitution. In 1924, he was appointed Minister of Finance, and became Minister of Communication in 1925. From 1927 until his withdrawal from politics in 1939, he was member of the Egyptian Senate.<ref name="Annuaire" />

==Personal life==

Cattaui's daughter died of typhoid fever at the age of 18 at the end of December, 1906.<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Personal and Social. |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dig-eg-gaz/page-images/master/1906-page-images-4/1906-12-27-p3.jpg |work=The Egyptian Gazette |date=27 December 1906}}</ref>

==Companies== Joseph Cattaui Pasha was involved in, or directed the following companies:<ref name="Annuaire" /> *Société Wadi Kom Ombo (1904- ) *Banque Misr (1920- ) *Société Cheikh Fadl *Union Fonciere d'Egypte *Compagnie Frigorifique d'Egypte *Société des Halles Centrales *Société des Suceries *Compagnie des Eaux du Caire *Imperial Chemical Industries (Egypt) *National Insurance of Egypt (established 1900)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://insurancehistory.cii.co.uk/collections_firemark/national-insurance-company-of-egypt-now-international-government-owned-3/|title=National Insurance Company Of Egypt (Now International Government Owned)}}</ref>

==Works== *1920: ''Pour mes enfants.'' Paris: L. Carteret. *1926: ''L'Égypte: aperçu historique et géographique; gouvernement et institutions; vie économique et sociale.'' Le Caire: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. * 1927: ''Le regime des Capitulations en Egypte.'' Le Caire: Imprimerie de l'Institut francais d'archeologie orientale *1931: ''Coup d'oeil sur la chronologie de la nation égyptienne.'' Paris: Plon. *1935: ''Le Khédive Isma'il et la dette de l'Egypte.'' Le Caire: Misr *1943: ''Les calendriers antiques.'' Le Caire: Éditions de la revue de Caire

==Honours== === Egyptian national honours ===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" |- ! style="width:80px;"| Ribbon bar !! Honour |- | 70px | Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile<ref name="Annuaire" /> |}

===Foreign honors===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" |- ! style="width:80px;"| Ribbon bar !! Country !! Honour |- | 70px || {{Flag|France}} || ''Commandeur'' of the Légion d'honneur |}

== References == <references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cattaui Pasha, Joseph}} Category:1861 births Category:1942 deaths Category:Egyptian politicians Category:Jewish Egyptian politicians Category:20th-century Egyptian politicians Category:20th-century Egyptian businesspeople Category:Egyptian bankers Category:Businesspeople from Cairo Category:Jews and Judaism in Cairo Category:École Centrale Paris alumni Category:Members of the Parliament of Egypt Category:Pashas Category:Transport ministers of Egypt Category:Ministers of finance of Egypt Category:People from the Khedivate of Egypt Category:19th-century Egyptian Jews Category:19th-century Egyptian politicians Category:20th-century Egyptian Jews Category:Qatawi family Category:Recipients of the Order of the Nile Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour