Giuseppe Sciammas, born Yusuf, was born on September 20th, 1933 to Musa and Rosa in Cairo, Egypt. Musa was Egyptian by birth, while Rosa had migrated to Cairo as a young girl, after having lived in the same neighborhood as a child and played in the same streets as Yusuf’s future wife Suzette’s mother, Rashel, in Istanbul. Yusuf was the middle of five children, after his older siblings Farag and Rachel, and two younger sisters, Sonia and Renata. His family lived in the Abasiya neighborhood of Cairo and as a youth, he was known throughout for riding through the streets of Cairo on a bicycle. His father worked at times as a jeweler and others in various small business ventures, often facing financial ups and downs. When Yusuf was 23, many years of passive antisemitism began to manifest more directly in Egypt under the new leadership of President Abdel Nasser. His family was forced into exile and had to leave their homeland. Despite being born and bred in Egypt, his family had never received formal citizenship papers, and they left Egypt stateless.

Yusuf boarded a ferry boat with his family, except for the elder brother Farag, and they arrived in Italy as political exiles. Translating their family surname from Arabic to Italian, it was spelled in the latin alphabet for the first time and according to its Italian pronunciation. Yusuf adopted the name Giuseppe. Before a year had passed, wishing his daughters to find Jewish partners, their father decided to move the family to the new state of Israel. Giuseppe was conscripted into the Israeli army and was a soldier in combat during the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis against his home state of Egypt. At one point, he risked his life to secretly cross the border to enter Egypt to see his elder brother who had remained. After the war, when his family was more settled in Israel, Giuseppe decided to follow his own path and returned to Italy.

Standing in a lengthy employment line, he felt infinitely fortunate when an auto factory supervisor picked him out from the line for the first of many career positions in the automobile industry. Several years later, while living in Paris, he came across a Rabbi, who made an introduction to a young woman from a family from Istanbul, who were also part of the Karaite community. Giuseppe wrote a letter of introduction to Salomon Yafet, requesting to visit with the family and to court Salomon’s daughter Suzette. And so began the 50 plus year story of Giuseppe and Suzette. After Suzette accepted his proposal, Giuseppe left for nine months on his Vespa motor scooter to Tehran, Iran, where he was an temporary assignment with Leventis Motor Company. When he returned, they were married, and soon after left for Lagos, Nigeria, for his next assignment.

Thus began a long career working for a series of auto manufacturers, as a technician, learning increasingly sophisticated automobile electronics, and eventually a supervising technician. Giuseppe and Suzette accepted a series of assignments that stationed them in various international locales, including Lagos, Nigeria, and Kinshasa, Zaire. They participated in the annual motor scooter safari in Lagos, and once Giuseppe even served as an interpreter for the Prime Minister of the then Democratic Republic of Zaire, Mobutu Sezi Seko when he toured the FIAT factory. They began their family with first born son Ruggero followed by younger son Carlo.

The family moved to Torino, Italy and lived in the center city. Always wishing to make it to North America, Giuseppe moved the family to Toronto, Canada, where he pulled a sled over snow for his two boys while they brimmed with laughter. In 1976, the family migrated to the United States. Giuseppe was fully devoted to his career and routinely sacrificed time at home with his family out of duty as the primary provider. After many years in a career position with FIAT, the company scaled back their operations in North America and offered Giuseppe to return to Italy. He declined the invitation, and then decided to open his own neighborhood auto shop where he was the principal mechanic. Giuseppe and Suzette retired in Laguna Niguel, a small seaside California town where they enjoyed walks on the beach, and being grandparents to three grandchildren, Nicolo Baraka, Luca Habib, and Naelle Slade. Giuseppe’s heart was broken when Suzette passed away at the age of 85. He moved in with his son in San Francisco, navigating the city on the public bus system, and picking up his grand daughter each day after from school. Giuseppe passed away in the home of his eldest son in Davis, California on March 17, 2020 at the age of 87.

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