Farhang Mehr

Farhang Mehr (11 December 1923 – 4 March 2018) was an American political scientist, academic and researcher, and former Iranian politician. He was a Zoroastrian.
Mehr was born in a Zoroastrian family in Tehran. His father, Mehraban, was from the province of Kerman, and migrated to Tehran when he was 14 years old. He went on to become Chief Accountant in the Iranian Parliament.
He joined the National Iranian Oil Company. He was the head of the Department of International Contracts and Industrial Relations.
He was then nominated by the prime minister to serve as the Minister of Finance. However, he could not become a minister under Iran’s constitutional law which preserved the ministerial posts for Muslims only.
Mehr’s last position in Iran, prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, was president of Pahlavi University in Shiraz. During his presidency, the university became internationally known for its academic excellence .
In 1981, two years after the establishment of the Revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran, Mehr migrated to the United States. There he joined Boston University as Professor of International Relations.
Mehr died on 4 March 2018 at the age of 94.