Our condolences to the family, friends and the Chaldean community in the Kurdistan Region and Abroad.

Born to Aziz and Warina Yacu on Saint George's Feast Day April 1932, in the village of Fishkabour in Northern Iraq. Growing up, George's love for education took him on a long journey from the village of Fishkabour to Mosul, then to Baghdad where he attended Baghdad College, an elite Jesuit high school. Finally, he embarked on a long journey to the United States to pursue an engineering degree from Saint Louis University in Missouri. He graduated in 1955 with a degree in geophysical engineering, making him the first Iraqi to achieve this. 

In 1959, he married Huda Abdula Al Hakim in Mosul, after meeting her on a school field trip to the oil field where she took her students. Together they had three children - Saad, Aziz, and Shirin who are all now living with their spouses and children in Chicago, IL USA. 

Upon his return to Iraq in 1955 he worked for IPC (Iraqi Petroleum Company). Later he worked for Iraqi National Oil Company and the Ministry of Oil where he held many distinguished positions. In 1999 he retired from the ministry and went on to establish a private oil & gas consulting firm called ‘Sumer Petroleum.’ In early 2001 he immigrated to the USA to join his family but that did not stop him from working. He went back to Iraqi Kurdistan in 2004 to help the  Kurdistan Regional Government set up and develop its oil & gas industry. His 65-year career in the oil & gas industry enabled him to travel around the world and meet higher officials and dignitaries from other countries and nations. 

As an intellectual, he loved to read and listen to classical music. He spoke four languages (Arabic, English, Kurdish, and Chaldean) fluently. George was a hardworking, active, and energetic man, traveling around the globe. Even in his mid-eighties, he continued to work until cancer and old age took a toll on him. He published countless articles and papers regarding oil & gas, management, cultural issues related on Iraq, as well as speaking at many global 
conferences and giving lectures, and conducting training workshops. 

Although he was the first of the Aziz Yacu siblings to come to the United States, he returned to Iraq to pursue his career and raise a family. He encouraged his brothers to pursue their studies in the USA as well and eventually they immigrated and settled in America. He only immigrated to the USA in 2001 after everyone from his family had already settled. 

He is preceded in death by his parents, Aziz and Warina Yacu; his brothers, Anwar, Zuhair, Hikmat, and Emry; and his sisters Julia and Naema. 

He is survived by his wife, Huda; his children Saad (Ayser), Aziz (Hanan), and Shirin (Yokhana); his grandson, George; his granddaughters Laura, Emily, Ranya, and Ava; and his sisters, Jena, Jakleen, Feryal, Jalila and Layla; and countless cousins, nieces, nephews, and extended family members and friendsfriend.