René Angélil
Angélil in 2007, photo by Prphotos
Date of Birth: January 16, 1942
Place of Birth: Montréal, Québec, Canada
Date of Death: January 14, 2016
Place of Death: Henderson, Nevada, U.S.
Ethnicity: Syrian, Lebanese
René Angélil was a Canadian musical producer, talent manager, and singer.
His father, Joseph Angélil, was a Syrian emigrant, from Damascus. His mother, Alice Sara, was born in Montréal, to emigrants, also from Damascus, and is said to have been of Lebanese ancestry.
René was married to singer Céline Dion, until his death. He had a son with his former wife Denyse Duquette; two children with his former wife, singer Anne Renée (Manon Kirouac); and three children with Céline. His daughter Anne-Marie Angélil is married to singer, songwriter, and musician Marc Dupré.
René’s paternal grandparents were named Salim Angélil and Najla Khlat.
René’s maternal grandfather was Mitri Sara (the son of Khalil Sara and Nazha Arbaji). Mitri likely was born in Damascus. Khalil was the son of Nicolas Sara and Nazha Maatouk.
René’s maternal grandmother was Nours Sara (the daughter of Ghattas Sara and Rogina Doummar). Ghattas was the son of Nicolas Sara and Nazha Maatouk. Rogina was the daughter of Elias Doummar.
Sources: Article about René Angélil – https://www.lorientlejour.com
Genealogies of René Angélil – http://gw.geneanet.org
https://www.findagrave.com
Genealogy of René Angélil (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
In fact Joseph Angelil’s father is also very likely of Lebanese descent since his last name Angelil which is actually Anjlil, is not a Syrian last surname but a Lebanese Melkite surname. The surname of Joseph’s mother which is Khlat is also not present in Syria and only in Lebanon.
Joseph Angelil also lived most of his life in Beirut before moving to France and later to Canada and always dreamt of taking his son Rene to visit Beirut. Whether Joseph felt more attached to Beirut instead of Damascus was due to his family origins being in Lebanon I guess we will never know
The geneanet “source” doesnt really establish that the Sara family of Rene Angelil mother Alice Sara is of Syrian origin. According to the tree Alice father Mitri was born in Damascus. And he might very well have been born there since in a passenger list to New York says he appears as a resident of Damascus.
However the geneanet source doesnt say where Alice’s grandparents and further ancestors are from and says that the Saras origin is in “Hauran” as the genealogist that did the tree says here https://gw.geneanet.org/aractingi?lang=en&pz=farid+elie&nz=aractingi&p=nicolas&n=sara. “Hauran” is a huge region that spans down to Jordan and is not a village or town. The geneanet genealogist seems to have confused “Hauran” with Yauron, Lebanon which is a Lebanese village all the way down close to the border with Israel that has a Melkite population. Indeed members of the Sara family from Yaroun/Yaroune, Lebanon can be seen immigrating to US as seen here https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?q.surname=Sara&q.birthLikePlace=Turkey&f.recordCountry=United%20States&count=100&offset=0&m.defaultFacets=on&m.queryRequireDefault=on&m.facetNestCollectionInCategory=on
The wikipedia article on the village of Yaroun in Lebanon says the most of the inhabitants of the village moved to Beirut or outside Lebanon (possibly Damascus as well as America)
Other Saras migrated from Aslout and Tripoli in Lebanon as well. Only Mitri Sara, Alice’s father, and perhaps his relative Antoine are seen residing in Damascus before migrating to America.
The family story says he had met Alice Sara three years before Rene was born in Montreal while Joseph Angelil was traveling possibly in Beirut and this Familypedia tree says Alice was born in Beirut https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Alice_Sara_(1915-1997) The family tree on familysearch doesnt say where Alice was born although it makes her parents as natives of Lebanon https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/L2HJ-K3L
In any case, almost 100% of the sources say that Rene Angeli’s mother Alice Sara comes from a Lebanese family:
-The Canadian Encyclopedia- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rene-angelil
-Rene Angelil’s Obituary- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157069217/ren%C3%A9-ang%C3%A9lil
-Rene Angeli’s Obituary on the Montreal Gazette- https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/arts/rene-angelil-celine-dions-husband-dies-after-long-battle-with-cancer
-An arcticle that elaborates on the Sara family from Lebanon reuniting with Rene Angelil- https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/970259/-le-jour-ou-jai-su-que-rene-angelil-etait-mon-cousin-.html
-This recent article on the Huffington Post- https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/celine-dion-beirut-fundraiser_ca_5f550230c5b6946f3eb379bd?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIS3zvk-ob14Pw2t_dx-GGDwBrvIWE__WxPXaFVf7ZwTyjoY1HpObrnVcb8nJTyVbIF6Iuig4XmWf2test4kudb4X-Usefumhjxit6eH1QfmcdK1Ye5L-kpX4Kq6uPGMhpM29h8rciLGxScDTzLbBdsb9KaZszgHqReCnYKSEfLG&guccounter=2
This makes Rene Angelil of Syrian and Lebanese descent not just Syrian.
Yea he lost his battle to throat cancer.
René is married to singer Céline Dion. He was previously married to Denyse Duquette and Anne Renée (Manon Kirouac). -> René was married to Denyse Duquette, Anne Renée (Manon Kirouac) and singer Céline Dion.
René has just passed away.