Pierre Amine Gemayel, also spelled Jmayyel, Jemayyel or al-Jumayyil (; 6 November 1905 – 29 August 1984), was a Lebanese political leader. A Maronite Catholic, he is remembered as the founder of the Kataeb Party (also known as the Phalangist Party), as a parliamentary powerbroker, and as the father of Bachir Gemayel and Amine Gemayel, both of whom were elected to the presidency of the republic in his lifetime. He opposed the French Mandate over Lebanon in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and advocated an independent state, free from foreign control. He was known for his deft political maneuvering, which led him to take positions which were seen by supporters as pragmatic, but by opponents as contradictory, or even hypocritical. Although publicly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, he later changed his position due to Palestinian support of the Lebanese National Movement and its calls to end the National Pact and establish non-sectarian democracy. Gemayel also had a career in football in the 1930s, captaining the Lebanon national team as a player. He also became the first Lebanese football referee to officiate matches internationally, and was the second president of the Lebanese Football Association, between 1935 and 1939. Early life and education Pierre Gemayel was born on 6 November 1905 in Bikfaya, Lebanon into a Maronite family. His father Amine Bachir Gemayel, known as Abou Ali, and his uncle were forced to flee to Egypt after being sentenced to death in 1914 for opposing Ottoman rule, returning to Lebanon only at the end of World War I. Gemayel was educated at Jesuit school. He went on to study pharmacy at the French faculty of medicine in Beirut, where he later opened a pharmacy. He owned a pharmacy in Haifa, Palestine. The pharmacy was located in Sahat Al Hanatir (Carriage Square). In association football Gemayel also took an interest in sport, playing football. In 1935 he became president of the Lebanese Football Association (LFA); the same year he became Lebanon's first referee to officiate internationally. As captain of the Lebanon national team, Gemayel attended the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, alongside Hussein Sejaan, the former LFA president. After the games, he also visited various Central European countries. Gemayel remained president of the LFA until 1939. Foundation of Kataeb Party On his return to Lebanon from Europe, in 1936 Gemayel founded Al Kataeb Al Loubnaniyyah party (Phalangist Party a.k.a. Kataeb Party) with