Following in the Footsteps of St. Mark
Rifaat Fares was born in Elbaliana, an Egyptian town in the Province of Souhag, less than 100 miles north of Luxor, the ancient city of Thebes on the Nile River where the boy king Tutankhamun (1352-1343 B.C.) lived and Ramses II (died 1223 B.C.) ruled. One of 10 children, all of whom attended and graduated from university, Rifaat completed his degree in Pharmacy, University of Alexandria, 1976. After working as a pharmacist for over 10 years in his native land, marrying Magda, and becoming the father of two children, Ramez and Kareem, he chose to immigrate to Canada, 1987. Rifaat, now living in Mississauga, Ontario, worked for over two years at the Mississauga Hospital, a challenge, he says, that gave him a higher level of clinical experience. He established his own pharmacy in Oakville, 1995, calling it St. Mark after one of the Apostles who preached Christianity in Egypt and North Africa. A second pharmacy, United Drug Mart, was opened in Toronto, 1998, to serve nursing homes and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. [Photo, courtesy Rifaat Fares]