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STAMFORD, Conn. – Dr. Alan Metwally of Stamford died Oct. 20 at home surrounded by family and friends after a prolonged battle with cancer. He was 54.
He was born Nov. 21, 1957, in Cairo, to Sally Ziada and Abdel Aziz Metwally. He moved to Paris at the age of 14, when his father became director of Le Monde, the French daily newspaper.
Metwally spent his college years selling newspapers on the streets of Paris. He represented France in international sports competitions in volleyball and in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He graduated with a medical degree from the Sorbonne in 1977.
That year, he immigrated to the United States, where he practiced medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City. He was recently treated at St. Vincent's for multiple myeloma. In 1978, Metwally married Margaret Heffernan. They have two children, Mark and Natalia.
He served as program manager under Leona Helmsley at Helmsley Spear and then as vice president of operations at Citicorp, where he was responsible for the debut of the first ATM machines in the United States.
Metwally founded Leeds Associates, a computer consulting company, in 1983. His civic memberships included the Stamford Youth Soccer League's board of directors, Darien Debating Society, German American Club and New York Data Processing Management Association.
He enjoyed reading about a variety of subjects, writing jokes and composing poetry, often in Arabic. He also wrote many songs, one of which was performed on French radio by a popular French singer. He spoke seven languages, including English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, German, Armenian and Swahili.
Metwally is survived by his wife, Margaret Metwally; a son, Dr. Mark (Mary Kate) Metwally; a daughter, Natalia (Rick) Trotman; two brothers, Adel and Sam Metwally, both of Cairo; a sister, Azza Metwally, of Cairo; and three grandchildren.
A funeral service was held Wednesday at North Stamford Congregational Church. Leo P. Gallagher and Son Funeral Home in Stamford handled arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
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