A heartfelt tribute has been paid to a dad-of five who passed away after major heart surgery. Businessman Waseem Quereshi, 57, died on June 28 at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
The successful businessman was described as a 'wonderful, kind, friendly man'. Speaking to the MEN, his daughter, Marium Zulfiqur Scott, spoke about his final moments.
She said: “The morning of his surgery, he spoke to everyone and sent pictures of his face with thumbs up saying ‘wish me luck everyone’, but he just didn’t make it out.’
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Described as a ‘courageous’ man who had ‘dreams bigger than Kilimanjaro’, Waseem was a successful businessman who was born in Kenya but moved to London in his teens with with his mum, dad and three brothers. Waseem forged his own way in life and became an entrepreneur building a successful career in real estate after setting up an agency in London when he was just 21 years old.
Speaking to the MEN, Marium said: “He was always a risk taker, he wanted to carve his own path, he hated being told what to do and he always dreamt big and taught us not to be afraid of big numbers. He loved being a networker, he loved bringing people to together even at his funeral the main thing people said was how many people he introduced them to.”
Marium described her father’s forgiving nature which he displayed when he hugged a man who had carried out an armed robbery in his home. Marium told the MEN how in 2013, three boys burst into the family home armed with knives and a shot gun which they threatened Waseem with. They also stole the family car.
Marium said: “After the young man was sentenced my dad went to see him in prison, he spoke to him and asked him what made him that way.
“At the end of it, my dad stood up and asked him to stand up and gave him a hug. The young man broke down in tears and said he had never been hugged by a man before.
“My dad said he forgave him and said when you’re out in court reach out to me and we’ll change your lives. This was a man who moments before said he would have shot my dad and my dad forgave him, when he forgave someone he meant it.”
Well known at the Eccles and Salford Islamic Society, Waseem and his family moved to Swinton back in 2015 when his wife Bina managed to get a job as a GP before finally settling down in Urmston. Over the years his health began to deteriorate when his kidneys began to fail. In 2018 he had a kidney transplant which ultimately failed in 2020 causing him to have another kidney transplant in February this year.
Despite the transplant being successful, his heart started failing, meaning he had to have surgery at the Manchester Royal Infirmary where he unfortunately passed away on the operating table.
Marium said: “He treated us with so much love. My daughter Nura was the light of his life, she would go see him on weekends and they would ride around on his scooter, she was his whole world.
“The community felt his loss massively too, anyone who was ever in need, our house was always open. A lot of people are shaken up by his passing because he was such a wonderful, friendly, kind man.”
Waseem leaves behind his wife Bina, five daughters Sameera, Zahra, Marium, Amna and Nabiha, and his grand daughter Nura, his three brothers Mahmood, Mudasir, Muzamil and his son-in-law Luke Scott.
