Hussein Samatar

Hussein Samatar (, ) (1964 – 25 August 2013) was a Somali American politician, banker and community organizer. He established the African Development Center in 2004, which provided microloans and technical expertise to recent immigrant businesses.

Personal life Samatar was born in 1964 in Somalia. He grew up in a diverse area in Kismayo, situated in the southern Lower Juba province. Samatar's father had originally moved down from the northeastern Puntland region at the age of twelve, and his mother hailed from the southern town of Afmadow.

Samatar attended high school in Mogadishu.

Samatar then moved to the United States, part of the first wave of Somali emigrants to Minnesota in December 1991. He learned English with the help of a Minneapolis librarian.

Samatar was later accepted at the University of St. Thomas, earning an MBA in Business Administration from the institution. On August 25, 2013, Samatar died of complications from leukemia. He was inaugurated into the office on 11 January 2011.

Samatar also served on the boards of a number of civic and development organizations. Among these were the Citizens League, Dean's advisory board of the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, CommonBond Communities and Minneapolis Foundation.

Additionally, Samatar was actively engaged in politics within Somalia. He often wrote on the domestic political scene, endorsing the Hiil Qaran Party as a possible national party to contest elections in the autonomous Somaliland, Puntland, Khatumo, Galmudug and Himan and Heeb regions. In 2018, Minneapolis opened the highly anticipated mixed-use pedestrian path, naming it Samatar Crossing, to provide greater connection for Cedar-Riverside area residents and visitors to Hiawatha LRT Trail, downtown Minneapolis, and other city neighborhoods. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey remarked at the dedicated ceremony, "This [crossing] is an honor to Samatar who worked to bridge communities. He did it figuratively; this [crossing] is doing it literally."