Azim N. Khamisa, President and Founder of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, has over 27 years of successful experience in domestic and international investment banking, both in the corporate and real estate sectors of the world economy.

The Tariq Khamisa Foundation was founded by Mr. Khamisa in memory of his 20-year old son Tariq, who was murdered in January of 1995.

"When someone angers you or calls you a name or pressures you to do something that's violent or wrong, think of Tony and Tariq, then make a choice about how you want to handle it," says Tasreen Khamisa, Tariq's older sister and executive director of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation.

"I will never see my little brother again. Imagine how that would feel. That can happen when people make the wrong choices."

Excerpt from North County Times
Article by Erin Walsh

As an Executive Board Member and Vice President of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, Mr. Felix is active in the community’s efforts to stop youth violence.

He is the recipient of a Special Community Service Award from Janet Reno and the U.S.

He was standing there for milliseconds, understanding that the guy he shot was dying, he knew he had done the worst thing he could ever do. He really wanted to help Tariq. I mean, the person that he is, wanted to help this person he had just shot. And he could hear in the distance his friends telling him: "Run! Run! Run! Don't drop the gun!"

"I've never seen a human being shattered, as disintegrated, as Azim and subsequently his family was as they began to arrive. He was a person completely apart….the only way I can put it. It was amazing to me that he was walking around because he was in pieces."

On Saturday night, January 21st, 1995, fourteen-year-old Tony Hicks shot and killed twenty year old Tariq Khamisa in the course of stealing two pizzas.

Azim Khamisa would not let his son's death remain just a tragedy. He decided to reach out to the family of Tony Hicks in forgiveness. And with the help of Ples Felix, Hicks's grandfather and guardian, he founded the Khamisa Foundation to spread awareness about violence and to honor those who took the non-violent road.