The Iran Foundation was incorporated in 1948 in New York State as a private entity designed to enhance the public welfare in the historic city of Shiraz, Iran. For generations, the population of Shiraz embraced a philanthropic tradition; its citizens demonstrated their civic pride by donating funds to replace or rebuild roads, schools, and mosques. It is this tradition that the Nemazee family sought to invoke with the launch of the Iran Foundation.
The full name of the Foundation – the Iran Foundation for Advancement of Health and Education in Iran – captures the breadth of its mission. In 1944, Mohamed Nemazee returned to Shiraz from his diplomatic post in Washington, DC, and, as cited in the Foundation’s deeds of endowment:
“Observing the low standard of health and hygiene [Nemazee] decided to follow the national and ancestral practice of performing benevolent deeds by devoting the greater portion of his means to establish in the city of Shiraz, his native town, a Medical Center. In order to provide a sure and constant source of income for the maintenance of this establishment he decided to invest part of the funds he had set aside for charitable deeds in an enterprise which, through its earnings, could balance the establishment’s annual budget, and, through its services, play an important part in improving the health of the city, thus doubly achieving the main purpose of the Medical Center. This enterprise was a modern, piped, water-supply system.”
The Shiraz Medical Center – now known as Nemazee Hospital – and the Shiraz Water Works were the first two Iran Foundation projects to provide tangible benefits to the community of Shiraz. They would be followed by the Nemazee Nursing School and the Nemazee Vocational School, both powerful examples of the Foundation’s commitment to education.
From its inception, the Iran Foundation encouraged close ties between the United States and the city of Shiraz, with the intention to “act as a link between the Medical Center in Shiraz and scientific organizations of similar nature” in the United States. The Nemazee family assembled an international leadership team with extensive experience in appropriate fields.
The Iran Foundation itself is no longer in existence, but the projects it spawned continue to operate and thrive in 21st century Iran.