Death of Abtin Sasanfar, Renowned Researcher of Iranian History and Culture

Abtin Sasanfar, a researcher of Iranian history and culture known for his studies on the Avesta and Zoroastrianism, passed away last Thursday in Geneva. Maziar Ghavidel, a historian and cultural researcher residing in Sweden and a close friend of Sasanfar, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that Sasanfar died hours after suffering a stroke in a hospital in Geneva, with his family by his side. Sasanfar was born in 1928 in Tehran and after completing his primary and secondary education at the Jamshid Jam and Ferdowsi Zoroastrian schools and Firouz Bahram High School, he pursued a degree in law and economics from the University of Tehran and began practicing law. He then studied for a master's degree at the University of Geneva and a doctorate in law at the Sorbonne in Paris. Before the 1979 revolution, Sasanfar served as a legal advisor and attorney for the Tehran Electric Company, and after the revolution, he moved to France where he continued his legal and economic work. He also conducted historical and linguistic research on the Avesta and Zoroastrianism, which was essentially a continuation of his work in Iran. Ghavidel mentioned Sasanfar's significant contributions, including his research and word-by-word analysis of the Gathas (17 hymns attributed to Zoroaster) and their translation. The book on the Gathas, consisting of 1174 pages, is the result of Sasanfar's research over three decades. Ghavidel also referred to the establishment of the World Zoroastrian Association building, the Zoroastrian Center in France, and the Aryan Cultural Center in Tajikistan, stating that Sasanfar contributed several million dollars to the purchase and construction of Zoroastrian centers in Britain and the United States, as well as to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. Sasanfar also translated the book 'Aryans and Aryan Civilization' by Tajik author Mohammad Qol Hazrat Qol Af (Mohammad Hazrati) into Persian.