UAE: Sheikh Zayed's first secretary dies; Sheikh Mohamed pays tribute Team KT/Abu Dhabi Ahmed worked for more than 40 years as the secretary for Sheikh Zayed. Ahmad Mahmoud Al Mahmoud, the first private secretary of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, had passed away. He was 99. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Tuesday tweeted a photo of Sheikh Zayed with Ahmad, as he paid tribute to him: “He witnessed the establishment of the UAE and accompanied the late Sheikh Zayed. He served his nation honorably and will be remembered as one of the UAE’s pioneers.”