Habib Lajavardi, Founder of Iran’s Oral History Project at Harvard, Passes Away

Habib Lajavardi, director of the Iran Oral History Project at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, passed away on Sunday, August 25 at the age of 86 in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Lajavardi was a graduate of economics at Harvard University and founded the Iran Oral History Project after the 1979 revolution, a success and impact that many historians and critics have acknowledged.

The project includes interviews with dozens of prominent Iranian historical figures who played roles in Iran’s political events from the 14th century in the Islamic calendar until 1981, including Shapour Bakhtiar, a prominent figure of the National Front and the last Prime Minister of the Pahlavi government, Ali Amini and Jafar Sharif-Emami, two other Prime Ministers of Iran during the Pahlavi period, Mozaffar Baghai, a former member of parliament, Karim Sanjabi, leader of Iran’s National Front and Foreign Minister of the Provisional Government, and Nasser Qashqai, among the prominent figures of the Qashqai tribe and associates of Mohammad Mossadegh during the nationalization of the oil industry.

Mr. Lajavardi was also one of the managers of the Baharestan industrial group before the revolution, which his family had founded, and after the revolution, the Iranian government confiscated his family’s assets.

Source: Radio Farda