Abolhassan Diba
Abolhassan Diba (4 January 1894 – 16 April 1982) was an Iranian politician, socialite, and businessman. History. Diba was born 4 January 1894 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. 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 after graduating college, he went into public office, becoming Deputy Minister of Finance. He married Pouran Vakili and is the father of Farhad and Malektadj Diba. Ex-Queen Farah Diba is a relative. Business ventures. 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 aristocratic 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 Iran. In this quest, the following activities are worth mentioning: Charitable and educational works. 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. Iranian revolution. In later life, he was devastated by the Iranian Revolution (1979–1980), which saw the wrecking of all his endeavours and the seizure by the clergy of all his assets, including the Park Hotel (which had grown to a 5-star 500-room complex). He had spent sixty years of his life investing his knowledge and his fortune in Iran, only to be forced into exile. The shock was such that he spent the last two years of his life in hospital and died in Lausanne, Switzerland on 16  April 1982.