Ehsan Yarshater, founder of Iranica Encyclopedia, passes away
Ehsan Yarshater, founder and director of the Iranica Encyclopedia and founder of the Center for Iranology in New York, passed away on Sunday, September 1, in California.
Mr. Yarshater, who was 98 years old, had a doctorate in Persian literature and was a prominent professor at Columbia University in New York.
The Encyclopedia Iranica, one of the most authoritative sources for understanding Iranian culture in English and considered the largest and most comprehensive project in Iranology, was established in 1968 at the suggestion of Ehsan Yarshater with a budget of two million dollars. The funding for this encyclopedia was cut after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and the work was transferred to the Department of Iranology at Columbia University to be completed under the management of Mr. Yarshater.
Mr. Yarshater was born in Hamedan in 1941 to a Baha'i family originally from Kashani. He studied Persian literature at the Higher Institute of Literature and turned to Iranian studies in 1944.
After the revolution, he pursued the Encyclopedia Iranica project in the United States. Through his efforts, Columbia University and the National Endowment for the Humanities supported Encyclopedia Iranica, and a number of Iranians living in the United States also joined the project's financial sponsors.
The first volume of the Iranica series was published in 1982. The series is scheduled to be completed in 45 volumes by 2020.
Source: Voice of America
