Tony Maalouf, a devoted husband, loving father and doting grandfather, passed into the arms of Jesus on Aug. 26. He died at home in Fort Worth, Texas, surrounded by his beloved family members, as the hymn “Amazing Grace” played. He was 63. 

He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Lamis; daughters Nardeen, Grace and Susan; son-in-law Greg; and the joy of his life, his granddaughter, Sophie. 

 Tony was born in Damascus to Lebanese parents who were working in Syria. Sensing their precocious child needed an advanced education, his parents sent him to boarding schools beginning at the age of 3. He excelled naturally at school, becoming one of those students who studies the night before final exams and still graduates as the valedictorian. He went on to receive a master's degree in natural sciences from Lebanese University, then left Lebanon to pursue further studies in France. He received a master's in human microbiology from the university of Aix-Marseille in Marseille, then began doctoral research in the subject in Montpellier. 

While in France, an encounter with another international student led him to Jesus, and his life suddenly took on a new and dedicated purpose. He hopped aboard a cargo ship heading back to a port in Lebanon, surprising his family, who did not expect him back in the middle of the war. 

In 1985, he married Lamis Jarjour, a Damascus native. They settled in the mountain area of Rayfoun in Lebanon, where they taught at a school affiliated with their church. As the war continued, Tony applied to seminaries around the world in an effort to advance his theological education and remove his family from the country. In 1989 they moved to Dallas, where he began studying at Dallas Theological Seminary. They lived there for the next nine years, as he received his master's and doctorate degree in theology, and co-pastored the Arabic Baptist Church of Dallas. 

In 1998 he moved with his family to Jordan, where he served as a faculty member at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary for four years and co-pastored a church in Amman.  

After short stints in Lebanon and Los Angeles, Tony joined the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth in 2004. For the next 16 years he taught subjects including Old Testament theology, Arabic, Biblical French, missions, and pre-Islamic Christianity in Arabia. He was an adjunct faculty member at the seminaries in Jordan and Dallas, as well as the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut. He also preached at the Arabic Christian Fellowship and traveled around the world as a member of the International Mission Board, helping train students and teachers at other seminaries in theological education. He founded a nonprofit, Magi Ministries, to further theological education in the Middle East.  

Tony was the author of “Arabs in the Shadow of Israel,” an exploration of God’s prophetic plan for the Arab people alongside the Jews. He also wrote academic papers, and contributed chapters to books such as “Vindicating the Vixens,” on revisiting vilified women in the Bible; “A Land Full of God: Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land”; and “Missions in Contexts of Violence.” 

He loved watching the Dallas Mavericks and Cowboys lose games they should have won, playing pool (in real life or on his iPad), and singing classic Arabic songs to Sophie.