M. Ali Aghassi Annual Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship has been established by Ms. Sarah E. Aghassi, Esq., a Trustee and Board of Directors member of the IA Scholarship Fund to honor the memory and work of her father.

M. Ali Aghassi (1911 – 1993)

M. Ali Aghassi was born in Khoy, Azerbaijan, Iran. He attended primary school in Khoy and high school at the American Memorial School in Tabriz. He was amongst some of the first Iranians to come to the United States for higher education at Colorado College, University of North Carolina and University of Chicago with degrees in Agricultural Economics, Petroleum Economics and International Relations. His thesis at the University of Chicago was written on the status of the Bahrain Islands under International Law.

M. Ali Aghassi began his employment with the Office of War Information in New York in 1942, joined the United Nations Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture in 1944 and the United Nations Secretariat, Department of Political and Security Council Affairs in 1947, working directly with Secretary General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld.

A United Nations (UN) career diplomat, he served in different capacities including UN Commission for India and Pakistan in 1948 and again in 1972, working to resolve conflicts between the two nations on Kashmir. M. Ali Aghassi was the Principal Secretary (assimilated rank of General) of the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK) in 1959. He also served in executive secretariat or directorship capacities for different organizations within the UN such as the United Nations Development Programme, the International Labour Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Industrial Development Organization.

Upon his retirement from the United Nations, he returned to Iran and was invited to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Senior Advisor at the International Institute of the Ministry.

His appreciation and love for photography, music, poetry and knowledge were unprecedented. An award winning photographer, he traveled the world and has been listed in “Who’s Who in Photography.” He was a member of the UN diplomatic small orchestra and played the clarinet. He had an immense appreciation for western classical music, as well as the classical music of Iran. He was a true scholar and never stopped reading and learning. He was of the belief that the more you learn, the more you realize how much more there is to learn. He had a passion for poetry and the poets of Persia, and often recited his favorite works by memory.