Syamaun Gaharu was born on 10 November 1913 and died on 30 September 2000; he attended the Teupin Raya primary school in Pidie, a teacher college in Pematangsiantar, Taman Siswa in Banda Aceh and an agricultural school in Bogor. He led the Angkatan Pemuda Indonesia headquarters in Kutaraja (1945) and Division V of the TKR/TRI Sumatra Command, then commanded Kodam I/Iskandar Muda and served as regional war administrator of Aceh (1957–1960) during the DI/TII settlement, including the founding of the Darussalam campus town. He later sat on the Supreme Advisory Council (1959) and was rector of Universitas Cut Nyak Dhien in Medan (1972–1975).