Mansour Tadros, Arab-American 'Icon,' Dies Of Coronavirus

TINLEY PARK, IL — Fadi Tadros said his father, well-known Arab-American newspaper publisher Mansour Tadros, was fully healthy a little over a week ago. Now, Fadi says his family is taking it "day-by-day" after his father died Saturday morning after the family said he contracted coronavirus.

"He became ill Wednesday morning (March 25) and was taken to the hospital, where they said his oxygen was low and that he had developed pneumonia," Fadi said, noting his father's symptoms matched the ones others who have tested positive for coronavirus disease have reported.

Tadros was taken to the emergency room at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox on Wednesday before being sent home.

"He met all the criteria for COVID. He had a slight fever, chills, body aches and an extreme cough," Fadi said.

Mansour, who was 70 and had lived in Tinley Park for several years, was tested for the coronavirus before going to the hospital on Wednesday, Fadi said. The results were confirmed two days after he died. Positive.

"Both the testing center and Silver Cross have confirmed it," Fadi said. "We didn't need any confirmation, though. We knew it was that (the coronavirus) right away."

Fadi remembers his father as "an icon and pioneer in the community."

"He was such a bubbly guy. Charismatic. So caring and loving," he said. "He would sometimes get up to 100 phone calls a day. From people asking for advice, to others just wanting to hear his voice and people who wanted to talk strategy. And it had been like that for 20 years."

Mansour was the founder of "The Future News" Arab-American newspaper that was published in print form from 2001 until 2019. His friend, journalist Ray Hanania, said Mansour was a community activist and member of the Arab American National Advisory Committee in an article about his life.

"Mansour was just a good guy," Hanania told Patch. "After moving here from Jordan, he assimilated 100 percent. He was proud to be Arab and proud to be American. He would always speak in English."

Hanania said that while many Arab-American newspapers had to close due to post-9/11 racism, it was Mansour who created one just a month after the terrorist acts.

Mansour's paper was unique in several ways, Hanania said. One, that it was bi-lingual.

"He published the paper in Arabic and English, sharing stories about who Arab-Americans are in a language that Americans understand and in a style, professional journalism, they understand too."

"It was a paper that talked about who we are," he said. "He was consistent with deadlines, and shared stories about marriages, funerals, new babies and people being hired. That was something new in the Arab-American community. He wrote stories that were positive, some negative ones too, but it was something that reflected the community as a whole."

His next career goal was to move the paper online, Hanania said. But his illness that his son said "came out of nowhere" put an abrupt end to a life well lived.

Fadi said he's puzzled as to why Silver Cross Hospital ordered his father to go home.

"They didn't give him any medication, either," Fadi said. "We eventually called his doctor and got some, but the hospital should have given him the medication."

Fadi said doctors at Silver Cross said his father had pneumonia but still ordered him to go home, and the family "couldn't get any answers" as to why.

"It's particularly alarming that they would send him home without any medication," Fadi said.

Silver Cross Hospital was reached by email on Thursday, issuing this statement to Patch:

"In the interest of respecting patient privacy and adhering to the requirements of HIPAA, we do not comment on individual patients. All suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients are treated in accordance with federal, state, and local health department guidelines."

By Saturday, March 28, Fadi said his father was so ill they called an ambulance to take him back to the hospital. He didn't make it there alive, succumbing to his illness on the ride there.

Even in the age of coronavirus, about 70 cars showed up for Mansour's funeral procession, Hanania said. But with current social distancing requirements, there were no memories shared between his family and friends, no warm embraces and certainly no hugs.

"The coronavirus doesn't just kill people... it kills the whole memorial process we have when people die," Hanania said. "People live on for as long as the memories are shared, and the most effective way to share memories is at a wake. This coronavirus has also killed the after-death life."

One of Fadi's best memories of his dad can live on, though, and it is one that occurred on the very day that he died.

Fadi said that before the ambulance came to pick up his father, his dad went to the bathroom and combed his hair, brushed his teeth and put on his cologne.

"I think he knew it was his time, and he wanted to go out in style."