Hussein Mahmoud Hassan el-Shafei, , also known as Hussein el-Shafei (February 2, 1918 – November 18, 2005), was a member of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

's July, 1952 revolutionary leadership council and served as vice-president under two former Egyptian presidents, Gamal Abdel Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...

 and Anwar Sadat

Anwar Sadat

Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...

. He was one of the nine men who had constituted themselves as the committee of the Free Officers Movement

Free Officers Movement

In Egypt, the clandestine revolutionary Free Officers Movement was composed of young junior army officers committed to unseating the Egyptian monarchy and its British advisors...

, led the country's cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 corps during the uprising and was one of only three living members of the Revolutionary Command Council

Revolutionary Command Council

Revolutionary Command Council may refer to:* Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council, body established to supervise Egypt after the 1952 Revolution* Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, ultimate decision making body in Iraq before the 2003 invasion of Iraq...

 at the time of his death.

Born in Tanta

Tanta

Tanta is a city in Egypt. It is the country's fifth largest populated area, with an estimated 429,000 inhabitants . Tanta is located north of Cairo and southeast of Alexandria...

, el-Shafei graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy

Egyptian Military Academy

The Egyptian Military Academy is the oldest and most prominent military academy in Egypt and North Africa. Traditionally, graduates of the Military Academy are commissioned as officers in the Egyptian Army...

 in 1938. He was appointed minister of war in 1954 and served as Egypt's minister of labor and social affairs during Egypt's merger with Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. He served as vice-president under Gamal Abdel Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...

 in 1961.

During his tenure as minister of social affairs, el-Shafei introduced social insurance reforms considered radical at the time, including pensions to widow

Widow

A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

s. His Winter Charity campaign provided Egypt's poor with basic necessities. Some Egyptian celebrities took part in the "mercy trains" which delivered the goods, including actress Faten Hamama

Faten Hamama

Faten Hamama is an Egyptian producer and an acclaimed actress of film, television, and theatre. She was regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from melodramas to historical films and occasional comedies, though her chief successes were romantic dramas...

.

Anwar Sadat

Anwar Sadat

Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...

 appointed el-Shafei as vice-president of Egypt's new government in 1971 and was succeeded by Hosni Mubarak

Hosni Mubarak

Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....

 in April 1975.

Mubarak was among the senior officials at el-Shafei's state funeral

State funeral

A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...

.

See also

• Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council
  Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council
  The Revolutionary Command Council was the body established to supervise Egypt and Sudan after the Revolution of 1952. It initially selected Ali Maher Pasha as Prime Minister, but forced him to resign after conflict over land reform. At that time, the Council took full control of Egypt...
  
  
• Free Officers Movement
  Free Officers Movement
  In Egypt, the clandestine revolutionary Free Officers Movement was composed of young junior army officers committed to unseating the Egyptian monarchy and its British advisors...
  
  
• 1952 Revolution
  1952 Revolution
  The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 , also known as the 23 July Revolution, began on 23 July 1952, with a military coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement, a group of army officers led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The revolution was initially aimed at overthrowing King Farouk...