Basima Sabri Zakour

Dr. Basima S. Zakour, age 87, died on Friday, January 15, 2021 in Park Ridge, IL.  She was born in Mosul, Iraq on November 6, 1933 to Sabri Zakour, and Siddiqa Rehani. She graduated from the Medical College at the University of Baghdad in 1958, becoming one of the few early female physicians in Iraq. Following her graduation and marriage to Dr. Antoon Sukkar, she moved to Basra, where she established herself as a leading gynecologist. Her professional reputation grew to such a level that patients sought her from as far north as Amara, 100 miles to the north of Basra, to as far south as Kuwait City, 90 miles to the south.  In 1968 she traveled to Dublin, Ireland to study and achieve an advanced specialist diploma before returning to her practice in Basra.

Following the early and sudden death of her husband in 1971, she along with her three young children moved to Baghdad.  There she continued her career as a gynecologist at a major state hospital in Baghdad and also at her own private practice which she established. Similar to the success she achieved in Basra, she became a very well-known and respected gynecologist in Baghdad. She was known to her colleagues, patients, and whoever came in contact with her, as an outstanding, compassionate, and caring physician who did everything she could to help anyone in any capacity she could, both medically or otherwise.

In 1991, when she was in her late fifties, she immigrated to the U.S. to join her son. This is where she decided, yet again, to start a new chapter in her career. She studied and successfully passed the U.S. medical exams, becoming a licensed American physician at the age of 61.

Dr. Basima Zakour will be forever remembered by her three children, Rafid (Luma), Dalia (Nasser), Nihal (Ziyad), her eight grandchildren, Sarah (Razik), Joseph, Abraham, Emile, Hannah, Nora, Rita, and Grace, and her two great-grandchildren Danielle and Gabriella.

Her funeral will be held at 10:00am on Thursday, January 21, 2021 at Mart Mariam Chaldean Catholic Church, 2700 Willow Rd, Northbrook, IL, followed by burial at Maryhill Catholic Cemetery, Niles, IL. For the safety of everyone during the current Covid-19 pandemic, the funeral will unfortunately be restricted but will instead be streamed live at the church facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mart.chaldeanchurch/ for anyone who would like to follow. Her son, Rafid, and her daughters, Dalia and Nihal, will also accept condolences by phone or message.

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