Thamir Al-Mayman, a media person, said he was deeply saddened by Diab’s death. “The last time I contacted him was about 10 days ago when he was receiving treatment at a London hospital,” he said.

He criticized authorities and literary clubs for not honoring Diab during his lifetime. “I hope nobody has any plan to give him a posthumous award without doing nothing to honor him during his lifetime,” he said in a eulogy published by Al-Madinah. Al-Mayman said he had lost a good friend. “We used to discuss so many things. Sometimes we agreed but many times we disagreed. He was a nice person. I appreciated his great values.”

He said Jeddah is losing so many great personalities like Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, Muhammad Abdu Yamani and now Diab and hoped that God would bless Jeddawis with people of caliber who can step into their shoes.

Al-Mayman said Diab, Fahd Al-Khilaiwi and himself had agreed to publish an anthology of short stories. “In fact, Diab had sent his stories while he was in London. Al-Khilaiwi also sent his stories. Diab asked me where my stories were, and I told him I will not show them until after publishing, otherwise he would plagiarize them. This was our relationship,” he said. Al-Mayman is to publish the anthology shortly as a tribute to Diab.

Diab’s funeral prayer at Al-Juffali Mosque was attended by a large number of friends and relatives on Sunday. Later his body was buried at Umm Hawa Graveyard.

Diab, a former employee of Saudi Research & Publishing Company, publisher of Arab News, died in a London hospital Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was 69. His body arrived in Jeddah from London on Sunday morning accompanied by his brother Ahmad and other family members. Condolences will be received at his residence in Nuzha district.

Many of Diab’s friends could not believe his death. Abdullah Rawwas, a media producer, highlighted the good qualities of Diab as a writer and lover of Jeddah. “It will be difficult to fill the vacuum left by Diab,” he said.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Shayie, director of Radio Jeddah, spoke about Diab’s ability to make cultural discussions lively. “His writings were simple and interesting,” he said, adding that Diab’s articles focused on social and cultural issues. “He was successful in conveying the message using a few words.”

Muhammad Mushat, a man of literature, highlighted Diab’s love for Jeddah, which reflected in his writings and talks. Diab was born in Jeddah and was editor in chief of a number of Saudi magazines, including Iqra, Al-Jadeedah and the Haj and Umrah magazine of which he was chief editor until his death. He had a daily column in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic newspaper, which is a sister publication of Arab News.