Albert Mokheiber was born in 1912 to a prominent Orthodox family in Beit Mery, he first entered Parliament in 1957 and rose to hold several ministerial posts in the foreign, education, health, public works and defense ministries. He was re-elected in 1960, 1964 and 1972. He founded and led the small Rally for the Republic of Lebanon, an opposition party that has included all confessions since 1969. He was also a founder of the National Bloc.

Mokheiber was not married but according to the book "Pioneers from Lebanon", he fell in love with an Austrian girl while studying in Switzerland. He later visited her in Vienna but found her with another man.

A physician who studied medicine in Switzerland, Mokheiber was known for treating patients free of charge at his Beirut clinic but it was his courage and strength of spirit and his disarming smile that won him the love of his friends and compatriots.

An independent spirit, Mokheiber's political and moral positions were fixed; they never faltered and so he refused to join the bandwagon of MPs who rallied behind presidential candidate Bashir Gemayel at the height of the civil war in 1982. Mokheiber was the only Christian legislator who declined to vote for Gemayel during the presidential elections that year, when ballots were cast as half of Beirut was under Israeli occupation.Gemayel respected him nonetheless and paid Mokheiber a visit of reconciliation after his election.

After the 1975-90 war, Mokheiber boycotted the first parliamentary elections in 1992 in protest against Syria's military presence in Lebanon, "Are we truly independent?" he once asked. "In fact, Syrian troops have no mission here." A dedicated right winger, Moukhaiber never missed an opportunity to demand from Syria to withdraw from Lebanon and to officially recognize the independent State of Lebanon by establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. After the war he was the first deputy to officially demand a Syrian pull out, his demand came from the Parliament's podium.

He lost in the 1996 elections but returned to the legislature in the following round, easily winning a seat to represent his home district of Metn.

Albert Mokheiber, the legislature's most strident anti-Syrian voice, died on Saturday April 13th 2002, at the age of 90 after a month at the American University Medical Center in Beirut, where his last several days were spent in a coma.

Speaker Nabih Berri, members of Parliament, Mokheiber's Rally for the Republic of Lebanon, the Beit Mery municipality, mukhtars and families, and the Mokheiber and Haddad families announced his passing with deep regret.

Mokheiber was posthumously awarded the Presidential Golden Medal of Merit, because of his rich contribution to public life as a two-time deputy speaker, two-time deputy prime minister, and five-time MP, but will undoubtedly be remembered for his outspoken, defiant and uncompromising opposition to the Syrian presence in Lebanon at a time when few dared to direct any criticism toward Damascus.

The sincere emotions that flowed on the day of his funeral reflected the heartfelt affection and admiration many held for him. More than 1,500 people attended the funeral, women threw roses on his coffin as it was carried from his home to Beit Mery's Mar Elias Orthodox Church on the shoulders of young men who included Free Patriotic Movement supporters, who wished to show their loyalty for the man who defended them when they faced crackdowns on their activities by the authorities.

Mokheiber was a true partriot and despite his half-century history as a politician, Mokheiber never joined a militia in a country that was wracked by war, and on the day of his funeral the only flags that decorated his home were Lebanese flags.
 

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