Abolhassan Diba

Abolhassan Diba (4 January 1894 – 16 April 1982) was born in Tabriz, Iran to a well-established family which can trace its line from the 8th century. His mother (Princess Malektadj Firuz) was a princess of the (then reigning) Qajar dynasty and his father (Fazlollah Vakil-el-Molk) was a Private Aide to the Crown Prince (Mozaffar-ed-din Mirza). At birth, he was given the Qajar title of "Saghat-ed-Dowleh". At the death of his father, the family moved to Tehran in 1902. He is the father of Farhad Diba and the step-father of Mercedes Bass.

In 1909, he accompanied his half-brother, Mohammad Mossadegh, to Switzerland and France, where he graduated from the Ecole des Sciences Politiques of the Sorbonne, with a degree in economics and administration.

On his return to Iran, he went into public office, becoming Deputy Minister of Finance.

After the coup d'état by Reza Khan (1921), he left government employ, sold his land holdings and entered into private business, which was frowned upon by his peers at that time, setting up the firm of Diba & Bayat, which later became Abolhassan Diba and Company. He was innovative and forward-thinking, always seeking to bring modernity to his country. In this quest, the following activities are worth mentioning:

He was the administrator of a large charity hospital, established by his mother Najmieh. With all of these endeavours, he never lost sight of the human factor, sending hundreds to be trained abroad in whatever vocation they were employed. Thus, within these activities, there were a large number of experts in such varied fields as hotel management, chefs, doctors, nurses, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, computer technicians, etc.

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