Rizek S. Abusharr was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, into a family whose roots go back several hundred years in Palestine. The Abusharr family are part of the Sakakini and Kudsi clans. Educated in Palestine and the United States, he married Alice Krikorian in 1961 and is father to Raja and Nabil and grandfather to four. Rizek and Alice left Jerusalem in 2006 and settled in Claremont, California, but have returned to Jerusalem annually since 2007 and led five pilgrimages, the last in 2018. Rizek served the Jerusalem YMCA for fifty years, was named one of the legends of the YMCA in 2003, and was elected to the YMCA Hall of Fame in 2004.