George Edward Post (1838–1909)
Surgeon, Botanist, Academic, and Theologian
George Edward Post (1838–1909) was an American physician, botanist, and theologian who greatly contributed to medical and scientific education in Lebanon. Born in New York City, he excelled academically, earning degrees in both theology and medicine before being ordained in 1861. Sent to Syria as a medical missionary in 1863, he served in Tripoli, where he mastered Arabic and provided extensive medical care.
In 1868, Post joined the Syrian Protestant College (now AUB) as professor of surgery and botany, positions he held for over four decades. He was instrumental in establishing the College’s medical department and obtaining its recognition by Ottoman authorities and greatly contribute to regional botany.
George Post married Sarah Read in 1863, and together they had six children. Their first three children—Arthur Mitchell Post (1864–1865), Robert Read Post (1866–1869), and Francis Read Post (1873-1873)—died in early childhood. Their surviving children included Alfreda Post, born in 1869, married Rev. Charles Lyman Carhart; Bertram Van Dyck Post, born in 1871, who married Caroline Hyde Hardin in 1901; and Wilfred McIlvaine Post, born in 1876, who married Annie Gardner Stabb in 1904.