RedWine
09-22-2007, 04:37 AM
Abolfath Ardalan, 77, a former Iranian navy admiral who became an engineer and professor in the Washington area after a daring escape from his homeland after the 1979 revolution, died Aug. 31 of cirrhosis of the liver at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He lived in Vienna.
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/09/20/PH2007092002527.jpg
In 1973, Dr. Ardalan was selected by the shah of Iran to direct a new national company, Iran Electronics Industries (IEI). Based in the city of Shiraz, IEI became an acclaimed research, technology and manufacturing center, with an emphasis on developing advanced weapon systems for the military.
The company had working agreements with many high-tech firms in the United States, and Dr. Ardalan founded an English-language school in Shiraz for IEI's 3,000 employees, many of whom were Americans and Europeans.
But growing unrest among Iran's religious leaders and students would lead to the country's Islamic revolution, which forced the shah to flee in January 1979. Military leaders, businessmen and associates of the shah -- Dr. Ardalan qualified on all three counts -- fell under suspicion in the new regime.
Dr. Ardalan, who had managed to send his family abroad, went into hiding in late 1979. He obtained a false passport and left his home in Tehran for his native region of Iranian Kurdistan and disguised himself as a Kurdish peasant.
Paying smugglers to lead him out of the country, he walked over rugged mountain passes in the middle of the night to cross from Iran into Turkey.
Dr. Ardalan's family knew that other Iranian military leaders had been executed, and for days they had no idea where he was.
He eventually made his way through Kurdish territory to Istanbul, then flew to Germany, where he disclosed his true identity to U.S. and German authorities and was reunited with his family. Their house and all of their other possessions had been abandoned in Iran.
In 1980, Dr. Ardalan and his family arrived in Northern Virginia and lived with his sister, the wife of a diplomat. Calling on acquaintances he had made in Iran, Dr. Ardalan found an engineering job with Westinghouse near Baltimore. When he was in his 60s, he went back to school at night and received a PhD in engineering management from George Washington University in 1993.
Soon after, Dr. Ardalan began teaching graduate courses at the University of Maryland's University College, and he taught occasionally at Catholic University and GWU. He retired from the classroom last year but continued to work with students online until recent months. He also had a consulting business and advised governments on technology and military matters.
Dr. Ardalan was a leader in Washington's Iranian exile community, but he refused to pine for what he had lost in the revolution.
"That was one of the most remarkable things about him," said Victor Tomseth, a retired U.S. diplomat who first met him in 1976 in Shiraz. "A lesser person could have justifiably complained about all that had been lost in Iran. He never complained. Abol's approach was that things happen, and he just moved on."
Dr. Ardalan was born into a prominent Iranian Kurdish family. His father was governor of the province of Gorgan and held other posts in the country's imperial government. (Later, after Dr. Ardalan's escape, his 94-year-old father was jailed for a month.)
As a young man, Dr. Ardalan studied engineering in England and, in 1956, was one of the first graduates of the newly formed Iranian naval academy. He quickly rose through the ranks and came to the United States in 1963 to study at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He received a second bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in engineering before returning to Iran in 1967.
He worked at the Iranian navy headquarters in Tehran for six years before being named to run the state-owned electronics company, which remains in operation.
In 1981, Dr. Ardalan put in a bid to buy a house in Vienna. The real estate agent then asked a neighbor whether he would object if an Iranian family moved in. The neighbor was Tomseth, who had been captured by Iranian revolutionaries Nov. 4, 1979, and held hostage for 444 days.
When Tomseth learned the name of his new neighbor, he and his wife took over a bottle of champagne and knocked on the door of their old friend.
"We've been friends and neighbors ever since," Tomseth said.
Dr. Ardalan's survivors include his wife of 51 years, Mahvash Ardalan of Vienna; three children, Faroukh Ardalan of Vienna, Babak Ardalan of Los Angeles and Roshan Alavi of Great Falls; two sisters, Chirin Goushbeigui of Vienna and Parvaneh Ardalan of Tehran; a brother, Samad Ardalan of Dusseldorf, Germany; and six grandchildren.
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/09/20/PH2007092002527.jpg
In 1973, Dr. Ardalan was selected by the shah of Iran to direct a new national company, Iran Electronics Industries (IEI). Based in the city of Shiraz, IEI became an acclaimed research, technology and manufacturing center, with an emphasis on developing advanced weapon systems for the military.
The company had working agreements with many high-tech firms in the United States, and Dr. Ardalan founded an English-language school in Shiraz for IEI's 3,000 employees, many of whom were Americans and Europeans.
But growing unrest among Iran's religious leaders and students would lead to the country's Islamic revolution, which forced the shah to flee in January 1979. Military leaders, businessmen and associates of the shah -- Dr. Ardalan qualified on all three counts -- fell under suspicion in the new regime.
Dr. Ardalan, who had managed to send his family abroad, went into hiding in late 1979. He obtained a false passport and left his home in Tehran for his native region of Iranian Kurdistan and disguised himself as a Kurdish peasant.
Paying smugglers to lead him out of the country, he walked over rugged mountain passes in the middle of the night to cross from Iran into Turkey.
Dr. Ardalan's family knew that other Iranian military leaders had been executed, and for days they had no idea where he was.
He eventually made his way through Kurdish territory to Istanbul, then flew to Germany, where he disclosed his true identity to U.S. and German authorities and was reunited with his family. Their house and all of their other possessions had been abandoned in Iran.
In 1980, Dr. Ardalan and his family arrived in Northern Virginia and lived with his sister, the wife of a diplomat. Calling on acquaintances he had made in Iran, Dr. Ardalan found an engineering job with Westinghouse near Baltimore. When he was in his 60s, he went back to school at night and received a PhD in engineering management from George Washington University in 1993.
Soon after, Dr. Ardalan began teaching graduate courses at the University of Maryland's University College, and he taught occasionally at Catholic University and GWU. He retired from the classroom last year but continued to work with students online until recent months. He also had a consulting business and advised governments on technology and military matters.
Dr. Ardalan was a leader in Washington's Iranian exile community, but he refused to pine for what he had lost in the revolution.
"That was one of the most remarkable things about him," said Victor Tomseth, a retired U.S. diplomat who first met him in 1976 in Shiraz. "A lesser person could have justifiably complained about all that had been lost in Iran. He never complained. Abol's approach was that things happen, and he just moved on."
Dr. Ardalan was born into a prominent Iranian Kurdish family. His father was governor of the province of Gorgan and held other posts in the country's imperial government. (Later, after Dr. Ardalan's escape, his 94-year-old father was jailed for a month.)
As a young man, Dr. Ardalan studied engineering in England and, in 1956, was one of the first graduates of the newly formed Iranian naval academy. He quickly rose through the ranks and came to the United States in 1963 to study at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He received a second bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in engineering before returning to Iran in 1967.
He worked at the Iranian navy headquarters in Tehran for six years before being named to run the state-owned electronics company, which remains in operation.
In 1981, Dr. Ardalan put in a bid to buy a house in Vienna. The real estate agent then asked a neighbor whether he would object if an Iranian family moved in. The neighbor was Tomseth, who had been captured by Iranian revolutionaries Nov. 4, 1979, and held hostage for 444 days.
When Tomseth learned the name of his new neighbor, he and his wife took over a bottle of champagne and knocked on the door of their old friend.
"We've been friends and neighbors ever since," Tomseth said.
Dr. Ardalan's survivors include his wife of 51 years, Mahvash Ardalan of Vienna; three children, Faroukh Ardalan of Vienna, Babak Ardalan of Los Angeles and Roshan Alavi of Great Falls; two sisters, Chirin Goushbeigui of Vienna and Parvaneh Ardalan of Tehran; a brother, Samad Ardalan of Dusseldorf, Germany; and six grandchildren.