Abolfath Ardalan; engineer fled Iran
WASHINGTON - Abolfath Ardalan, a former Iranian Navy admiral who became an engineer and a professor in the Washington area after a daring escape from his homeland following the 1979 revolution, died Aug. 31 of cirrhosis of the liver at suburban Inova Fairfax Hospital. He was 77.
In 1973, the shah of Iran selected Dr. Ardalan to direct a new national company, Iran Electronics Industries. Based in Shiraz, the company became an acclaimed research, technology, and manufacturing center with an emphasis on developing advanced weapon systems for the military.
The company had working agreements with many high-tech US firms, and Dr. Ardalan founded an English-language school in Shiraz for the company's 3,000 employees, many of whom were American or European.
But growing unrest among Iran's religious leaders and students led to the country's Islamic revolution, forcing the shah to flee in January 1979. Military leaders, businessmen, and associates of the shah - Dr. Ardalan qualified on all three counts - fell under suspicion of the new regime.
Dr. Ardalan, who had managed to send his family abroad, went into hiding in late 1979. He obtained a false passport and left his home in Tehran for his native region of Iranian Kurdistan, disguising himself as a Kurdish peasant. Paying smugglers to lead him out of the country, he walked over rugged mountain passes in the middle of the night into Turkey.
Dr. Ardalan's family knew that other Iranian military leaders had been executed and for days had no idea where he was.
He eventually made his way to Istanbul, and then flew to Germany, where he disclosed his identity to US and German authorities and was reunited with his family. Their house and all their possessions had been abandoned in Iran.
In 1980, the Ardalan family arrived in northern Virginia and lived with his sister, the wife of a diplomat. Calling on acquaintances he had made in Iran, Dr. Ardalan found an engineering job with Westinghouse near Baltimore. When he was in his 60s, he went back to school at night and received a PhD in engineering management from George Washington University in 1993.
Dr. Ardalan taught graduate courses at the University of Maryland's University College. He retired last year but continued to work with students online until recent months. He also had a consulting business.
Dr. Ardalan, a leader in Washington's Iranian exile community, refused to pine for what he had lost in the revolution.
"That was one of the most remarkable things about him," said Victor Tomseth, a retired US diplomat. "A lesser person could have justifiably complained about all that had been lost in Iran. He never complained. Abol's approach was that things happen, and he just moved on." 