Fonds PR4049 - Ahmad family fonds

Khwaja Gulzar (Gus) Ahmad was born to Ghulam and Zebunnisa Samadani in 1937 in Punjab in what was then India but would become the Punjab province of Pakistan after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Karachi in 1962 before working for the Geological Survey of Pakistan as a geologist until 1967.

Gus Ahmad moved to Edmonton, Alberta in 1967 to attend the University of Alberta as a graduate student in the Department of Geology. He earned a Master of Science degree in 1969 before returning to Pakistan to marry Azra Jilani. Azra was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1947 to Ghulam and Fatima Jilani.

Gus and Azra Ahmad then immigrated to Canada and permanently settled in Edmonton where they opened a restaurant before Gus started work as a stock broker with the Midland Doherty brokerage firm in 1971. In 1988, he began work in the personal financial planning and investment advisory field until retiring in 2015.

Gus and Azra Ahmad have a long history of community service. Prior to the founding of Islamic schools in Alberta, the Ahmads founded the Crescent Education Society in 1975, an Islamic Sunday school, which they operated until 1990. Azra was also a founding member of the Islamic Family and Social Services Association (IFSSA), which was created in 1992 to assist Bosnian refugees transition to life in Alberta. The IFSSA continues to operate as a social assistance agency for recent immigrants.

Gus and Azra have also been founding members of the Children of Islamic Nations charity (founded in 1981), the Federation of Canadian Visible Minorities (founded in 1987), and the Human Development Foundation of North America, a charity founded in 2005 to assist in the development of rural Pakistan. In addition to this service, Gus has also served on the Senate of the University of Alberta from 1991 to 1997, the Faculty of Arts Development Council of the University of Alberta from 1998 to 2001, the Community Services Advisory Board of the City of Edmonton from 2001 to 2007, the Alberta Family and Community Support Services Association as a representative of the City of Edmonton from 2002 to 2007, and as a public member on the governing body of the College of Alberta Dental Assistants from 2009 to 2012.

Gus and Azra Ahmad had three children: Ambreen (born 1970), Sumreen (born 1975), and Zeshen (born 1976).