CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Clay Center President and CEO Al Najjar loved science and loved to see children learn science.
Those of the two of the things being remembered about him after his sudden death Friday morning. He suffered a medical emergency.
Clay Center Board Chairman Rob Aliff said Najjar wanted to keep making the Charleston-based Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences exciting for kids not only in and around Charleston but from all over the state.
“He would say ‘as young people grow their interests grow and we want to have things that interest students at all levels.’ Al had a particular knack for seeing that vision and seeing everything as a challenge,” Aliff said.
Najjar started casting his vision for the Clay Center when he started there in March 2015. He was hired a few months before following a nationwide search.
Aliff said Najjar was “so incredibly passionate and vibrant and positive about the arts but particularly science and STEAM education.”
He said it was always Najjar’s mission to take those types of opportunities to the young people and families of West Virginia.
Aliff said he fondly remembers Najjar many times heading into the Clay Center’s Planetarium to teach children. He said he designed the Clay Center’s mobile unit, Clay2Go, that travels the state teaching STEAM education to students between the 3rd and 8th grades.
“He was a teacher. He loved, loved science and loved tinkering with things,” Aliff said. “But at the end of the day it was about much bigger than Al.”
Aliff said Najjar always wanted the focus to stay on the Clay Center.
“He was very fond of saying, ‘This is all about the Clay Center,'” Aliff said. “It’s bigger than one person. It’s bigger than one event. It’s bigger than one exhibit. It is the Clay Center which has as its mission to bring arts and science alive for young people and the families of West Virginia.”
Aliff, who met with the Clay Center staff after learning of Najjar’s death, said a nationwide search would be conducted at the appropriate time to choose Najjar’s replacement.