Michael “Mike” Peter Saba passed away peacefully in his Las Vegas home on July 28th in the loving company of his children. He leaves behind an inspiring wealth of memories and stories from a remarkable life fully lived, and a legacy of international bridge-building and bringing people together across cultures. Over the years, he cultivated connections with his cherished family, students in the US and abroad, world leaders and dignitaries, amateur and renowned archaeologists, doctors, pediatric patients and their families, celebrities, royalty, and an ever-expanding circle of friends. He will be remembered as a playful teacher, mentor, world traveler, humanitarian, activist, whistleblower, legislator, and as a proud North Dakotan and Arab-American.

A memorial will be held on Saturday, August 8 at Eastgate Funeral Service, 3117 E. Century Ave., Bismarck. Visitation will start at 9 o’clock with sharing of memories and stories starting at 10 am. Burial will follow at Fairview Cemetery. A celebration of life will be held on October 3 in Las Vegas. More details to come.

Born to Naif and Helen (Schletty) Saba in Saint Paul, MN in 1941, Mike's curiosity about the world began early and was inspired by his origins as the son of Lebanese and Swiss immigrant families. When he was a young child, the family moved to Bismarck, ND, where his father became a business owner and civic leader. Mike’s expansive worldview defined his lifetime of international travel and work, and his insatiable spirit of adventure led him to many unique experiences. After briefly dropping out of college to work on a shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico, he graduatedfrom Minot State University. Inspired by an on-campus speech by John F. Kennedy, Mike and his wife Marna (Benjamin) volunteered for the Peace Corps, and he served as a high school biology teacher in Malaysia from 1965-1967. Several of his students went on to become prominent physicians.

After an epic overland journey from Malaysia to Lebanon,Mike and Marna returned to North Dakota to promote cross-cultural awareness and helped to establish a Peace Corps training program with Standing Rock Indian Reservation that would later become United Tribes Technical College. Subsequently, he served as a Peace Corps training coordinator for Africa and Thailand, and later in Puerto Rico, where they had a daughter, Miriamah. Two years later their son Jesse was born back in North Dakota, shortly before they returned to live and work in Malaysia. Mike had an aptitude for languages and picked up Spanish, Malay, and a smattering of many others. He also broadened the Arabic he had learned among the Lebanese community he was raised in. He never ceased to amaze immigrants he encountered with greetings in their native languages.

Over a distinguished career, Mike worked in international business, health care, education, government, and nonprofitleadership. In the late 1970s, Mike’s first marriage ended and he took a position with Mobil Oil in New York City to help their executives interact more effectively with the Arab World. He later became the Executive Director of the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), served on the board of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and founded the Attiyeh Foundation, in honor of his Lebanese family heritage. While living in Washington D.C., Mike met and married his second wife, Irene (Hansen), and founded GULFAMERICA, which facilitated trade and economic relations between the U.S. and the Arab Gulf nations. Mike and Irene relocated to Champaign, IL for several years, where he received his doctorate degree in International Relations and welcomed his children Elizabeth, Ellen and Daniel. He would sometimes muse that he was finally “a doctor,” just as his immigrant father wanted him to be.

In 1990, while traveling in the Middle East on behalf of GULFAMERICA, Mike was among the American hostages detained in Iraq prior to the first Iraq War. After leveraging his Arabic to escape to Jordan by taxi, he and Irene founded Coming Home and became actively involved in efforts that helped secure the release of more than 1,000 American hostages from Iraq and Kuwait.

Undeterred by this harrowing experience, Mike continued to work in the Gulf region, living in Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s and then relocating with his family to Memphis, TN, where he accepted a position as VP of International Development for ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Mike helped to raise funds internationally and to establish care centers around the world. Throughout his life, Dr Saba (“Doc”) brought smiles to countless children’s faces with his famous Donald Duck rendition!

Miriamah, Jesse, Elizabeth, Ellen, and Daniel will always deeply value that Mike and their mothers stayed committed to maintaining their friendships, creating a foundation for their children to build lifelong bonds.

In the 2000s, a bachelor again, Mike moved to Sioux Falls, SD, where he served as the Executive Director of Development for Sanford Children's Clinics and then Director of International Development for Avera Health where he was responsible for overseeing the placement of children's clinics throughout the United States and the rest of the world. Getting back to his Dakotan roots, he enjoyed fishing off his dock on Wall Lake and hosting his children and their families, along with a wide circle of friends and international visitors.

Mike authored or contributed to several articles and published books, including Ethnic Heritage in North Dakota (1983), The Armageddon Network (1984), about his experience overhearing and reporting a conversation that raised concerns about a Senate staffer's role in Middle Eastern affairs, and King Abdulaziz... His Plane and His Pilot (2009).

In 2018, Mike was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing District 9. Mike attributed his narrow, historic win as the first and only Democrat to represent the district to his substitute teaching at the local high schools and forging one-on-one relationships within the growing immigrant communities and moderate or younger voters. During his term from 2019 to 2021, he brought decades of international experience to the Legislature, advocating for education, international trade, Native American representation, and community engagement.

In 2021, as he continued to battle kidney disease. Mike retired to sunny Las Vegas, NV, to be close to his daughter Miriamah, her three grown children, and a brood of great grandchildren that would grow to 10. In his final, very active years, Mike brightened his family’s lives with his vivid presence. His grandchildren and great grandchildren were thrilled to spend time with the ever playful and entertaining Grandpa Michael. He continued his hobby of arrowhead hunting and often went dancing with a multi-generational group of friends. Mike’s spirit and determination to live fully never wavered, even as his health declined. He was fortunate to find kind and good-humored caregivers, who became friends. In February, 2026, Mike wowed a transfixed crowd of family and friends with his prodigious harmonica talents and danced up a storm at his 85th birthday celebration. An amazing life, fully lived!

Mike is survived by his older sister Janet (Denver, CO), his children Miriamah (Las Vegas, NV), Jesse (Brooklyn, NY), Elizabeth (Cary, NC), Ellen, and Dan (both of Arlington, VA), by his grandchildren Samira, Aysia (Las Vegas, NV), and Tori (Rising Fawn, GA), Isabel, and Sophie (Cary, NC) and by 10 great grandchildren: Kairo, Keira, Caia, Jasper, Rowan, Sage, Jude, Jethro, Oliver Michael, and Elliot (Las Vegas, NV, and Rising Fawn, GA). His legacy of building bridges and bringing people together lives on in the communities he served, the causes he championed, and the many people whose lives were enriched by his generosity, wisdom, and unwavering belief that understanding between cultures could make the world a better place.

Mike’s family invites those who wish to make a donation in his name to contribute to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) or to the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA).