Charles Corm (1894–1963) was a Lebanese writer, industrialist and philanthropist. He is considered to be the leader of the Phoenicianism movement in Lebanon which ignited a surge of nationalism that led to Lebanon's independence. In a country torn by sectarian conflicts, Corm's intention was to find a common root shared by all Lebanese beyond their religious beliefs. At the age of 40, he quit a successful business empire to dedicate his time to poetry and writing. Over the course of his life, Corm received more than a hundred international literary and non-literary honors and awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe International Poetry Prize 1934, Citizen of Honor of New York City (USA), Grand Commander of the American International Academy (USA), Commander of the Order of Human Merit (Switzerland), Grand Officer of the Italian Academic Order (Italy), Grand Officer of the National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon), Grand Officer of the French Poets' Society (France), Fellow of the Royal Society (England) and the Medal of Honor of the Académie Française 1950 (France). Writer Although most Lebanese authors at the time wrote in Arabic, Corm mostly wrote in French. One of his main intellectual contributions is La Revue Phénicienne, a publication he founded in July 1919 in which many writers such as Michel Chiha and Said Akl took part and which inspired Lebanon's independence. Rushdy Maalouf, the father of Académie Française member and Francophone novelist Amin Maalouf, wrote: "Charles was the first one to show us how to love Lebanon, how to chant and rhapsodize Lebanon, how to vaunt and defend Lebanon, and how to become master-builders of this Lebanon." Corm is considered one of the most influential and awarded Middle Eastern writers. His La Montagne Inspirée ("The Sacred Mountain" in English), earned him the Edgar Allan Poe International Prize of Poetry in 1934. Additionally, Corm, whose father Daoud Corm was a teacher and mentor to the young Khalil Gibran, was the French translator of Gibran's English masterpiece The Prophet. Industrialist Upon graduation at the age of 18, Corm travelled to New York City where he rented a small office on Wall Street to conduct an import/export business. Soon after, Charles Corm obtained a meeting with business tycoon Henry Ford, the richest man in the world at the time. Subsequent to the meeting, Corm secured the Ford Motor Company dealership for the entire Greater Middle East region at a time when Ford