Obituary of Dr. Maged S. Atiya

March 1, 2020

Maged Atiya passed away on Sunday, March 1, 2020, at the age of 66. Maged was a physicist and businessman whose life spanned many different worlds.

Born in Cairo, Egypt, he emigrated to Salt Lake City with his family in the late 1960s. His family soon moved to New York where he later Maged studied at Columbia, receiving a Masters and a Ph.D. in Physics.

He worked for many years as an experimental particle physicist, principally at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, before starting his own company and transitioning out of scientific research.

A brilliant technologist, he founded and served as the CEO/CTO of ScholarChip, an industry leader in smart-card technology with offices in New York, Oregon, Maryland and locations throughout the country.

Post Arab Spring, Maged was also a prolific writer on Coptic identity and Middle East history. Through his pseudonymous Twitter account and his blog at salamamoussa.com, Maged was part of an international online community of scholars, journalists, and others.

The son of Samir and Nabila Atiya, he is survived by his brother Hany, his loving wife and business partner, Monica, and their two children Andrew and Alexandra.

A funeral service for Maged will be held on Saturday, March 7, 2020, at noon at St. Mary & St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church, 241 East 62nd Street, NY, NY.

A larger memorial to celebrate his life and legacy will be held in the coming weeks.

Funeral Services