Lebanese Forces bloc MP Farid Habib, representative of the northern Koura district, passed away on Thursday evening after a battle with illness.        

Habib died at the Saint George Hospital in Ashrafiyeh where he was being treated.             

He was elected in 2005 for one of the Greek Orthodox seats of the second electorate in the North. He was reelected in 2009 as a representative of the Koura district.         

Habib was one of the two Lebanese Forces representatives in the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, along with Eddy Abi Lamaa. He is married to Mary Fayad and has two children: Lara and Ziad.           

Habib hails from the Koura town of Kousba. He attended Tripoli Evangelical High School and graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in Literature.         

From 1956 to 1963, he worked as an assistant for the Public Relations manager of The Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company (TAPLINE). He also held the position of staff trainer during this period. From 1963 to 1976, he was the assistant of Sierra Leone's Consul at the Consulate in Lebanon.     

He began his political activity in the Phalange Party when he was in high school and remained unofficially active while in college. He officially joined the party in 1976 with the breakdown of the civil war.