[ obituary ] The Iranian community and Iranian studies have suffered a great loss. On Wednesday, August 24, Professor Hossein Ziaipassed away. Dr. Ziai was professor of Islamic and Iranian studies, inaugural holder of the Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies, and the director of Iranian studies at UCLA, where he had taught since 1988. He received his Ph.D. in Islamic philosophy from Harvard University in 1976 and his B.S. in physics and mathematics from
Yale University in 1967. Before joining the UCLA faculty, Dr. Ziai taught at Tehran University, Sharif University, Harvard University, Brown University, and Oberlin College. His numerous publications dealt with Islamic philosophy, the Iranian illuminationist school of philosophy, and “Persian poetic wisdom.”
Like many academics before him, his bio above is now his obituary and it says little of the man himself. Professor Ziai possessed a brilliant mind and noble spirit. He had a lion’s roar but the meow of his kitten as a ringtone. He made his life’s work the development and growth of Iranian studies in the United States, publishing books and writing articles and building one of the largest and most successful Iranian studies program in the country. He inspired scores of undergrads with his love of classical Persian…
