As Unity Foundation celebrated in 2021 its 30 years of existence and action around the world, we mourn the passing during that same year of two of our eminent founding members, Dr. Shapour Rassekh and Mr. Farzin Dustdar.
It was during a meeting of about thirty friends in 1981 that the idea of creating a foundation was proposed by Dr. Shapour Rassekh and his wife Dr. Mehri Arjomand.
The enthusiasm generated at that meeting motivated two other founding members, Mr. Abbas Rafii and Mr. Farzin Dustdar, to persevere for ten years in order to give shape to the initial idea and eventually register Unity Foundation as a Luxembourgish NGO. During this preliminary period, the support and inspiration of Dr. Shapour Rassekh was crucial.
The moral and practical support of one and the administrative perseverance of the others laid the foundation for what we are today: an NGO with 30 years of experience, contributing to the education of thousands of children, youth and adults around the world.
Dr. Shapour Rassekh, a sociology professor who introduced quantitative sociology to Iran in the 1950s, was forced to leave his native country more than forty years ago due to political changes in his country and never returned. From then on, the idea of global citizenship took a more practical form for him. Rather than sink into depression or discouragement over what he had lost, he and his wife worked tirelessly on a constructive path for society – whether in Geneva where they had settled, or elsewhere in Europe, including Luxembourg, and the rest of the world. Professionally, he took a position as a consultant to UNESCO, which led him to publish several books on education. In terms of social and personal commitments, Mr. and Mrs. Rassekh have inspired through the unity and radiance of their couple, and have encouraged countless people they have met during their travels and conferences to serve humanity – encounters that have sometimes led to initiatives that bring peoples and cultures together, especially in the field of education, the cornerstone of a just and prosperous society; Unity Foundation is one such initiative.
Dr. Shapour Rassekh will be remembered as a warm and smiling person, with a sense of humor coupled with a keen sense of analysis, characterized by finesse and courtesy. He died on December 7, 2021 in Geneva at the age of 97.
Mr. Farzin Dustdar left us here in Luxembourg on September 30, 2021 at the age of 78, after a slightly shorter but no less intense life on earth.
After leaving Iran at the age of 18 to study civil engineering in Graz, Austria, Farzin came to settle in Luxembourg with his wife Dr. Farah Zolfonoon and their first daughter Shiva in 1971. His half-century of life in Luxembourg was active and creative. He started his professional life in Luxembourg, worked at Commercial Hydraulics, later founded the publishing house Horizonte Verlag and co-edited with the Bontemps family the magazine Zeit für Geist, dealing with social issues. Supported by his wife, he took many other initiatives on the cultural and intellectual level as well as for the help of asylum seekers arriving in Luxembourg. He was able to inspire and give hope to countless people, as much by his practical action as by his good mood and his positive outlook on life, despite his long years of illness.
Unity Foundation gratefully remembers the commitment and contributions of these two co-founders and draws inspiration from them to continue its work with the help and support of all, to meet the challenges we face here and elsewhere, today, for the next thirty years and beyond!
