Mitch Daniels is the governor of Indiana. He is currently in his
second term as governor, having been re-elected in 2008.
Mitchell Elias DANIELS, Jr. was born 7 Apr 1949 in Monongahela
Pennsylvania, the son of Mitchell Elias DANIELS, Sr. and Dorothy
Mae "Dottie" WILKES. His father worked for Pitman-Moore
Pharmaceutical Company and later, Dow Chemical Company as director
of International Pharmaceutical Licensing Operations. His parents
moved to Indianapolis in 1958, where Mitch attended high school. He
received a Bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a J.D.
degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
His grandfather, Elias Eassa "Louis" DANIELS, was born Elias Ibn
Esem (or, more likely, Ibn Assa), near Homs, Syria (near the
present border with Lebanon). He immigrated to the United States in
1904 and, with his cousin, John DANIELS, settled in Monessen,
Pennsylvania. He probably found it easier to anglicize his cousin's
patronym, "Ibn Daniel", to DANIELS.