EARLY LIFE

Reza Ghotbi (Qotbi) was born in Tehran in 1938, the only child of Louise Samsam Bakhtiari and Mohammad-Ali Ghotbi. He grew up in a close-knit household living with his parents, his paternal aunt and uncle, Farideh and Sohrab Diba, and their only child, Farah. She later married Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and reigned as queen until the Islamic revolution in 1979.

EDUCATION

Ghotbi was a good student and a fervent patriot. While attending Firouzkouhi Primary School, he joined the Pan-Iranist Foundation (but not the Party) at age eleven, a year earlier than the stated regulations. Sometime after, a communist youth severely stabbed him in the back during a demonstration, a scar he had until the very end. A staunch admirer of Prime Minister Mosaddegh and wholly devoted to the Shah, the feud between the two in the early 1950s turned him off politics altogether. He thus turned his focus to his studies and sports instead, enrolled in Alborz High School at age fifteen, and joined the Boy Scouts.

He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Paris before taking intense preparatory courses for entry into the prestigious grandes écoles system. He was accepted into the École Centrale school of engineering (now known as CentraleSupélec) and followed his post-graduate studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, a specialized school of engineering (now renamed Télécom Paris). He then returned to Iran and taught mathematics at the Aryamehr University (now known as Sharif University).

CAREER

The Plan Organization ( سازمان برنامه ) retained Ghotbi where he was tasked with preparing a blueprint for the development of a national television in Iran. Uninterested in a management or administrative career, he planned to pursue his passion for mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) upon completing his task. Nevertheless, driven by a sense of patriotic duty and the opportunity to help his country develop and thrive, he agreed to stay when asked to lead the newly established National Iranian Television (NITV) and devoted himself to the task tirelessly. Several years later, in 1971, NITV merged with Radio Iran under his leadership to become the National Iranian Radio and Television (NIRT).

He married Shahrzad (Sheherazade) Afshar, a musician who shared many of his ideals for the future of the country and the sense of duty toward its people. They had two children, Azadeh and Sohrab.

Reza Ghotbi fast-tracked building a nationwide network of high-powered television and radio installations across the country. A champion of domestic technical self-reliance, synergy and cost efficiency, he ensured the country was able to assemble, then later design television transmitters, repeaters and even low-cost satellite receivers. He also had the foresight to initiate research in the potential of hybrid solar and wind energy to provide power to isolated parts of the network’s infrastructure (for more on his engineering and technical achievements, see Vardkes Esrailian’s descriptions in the TRIBUTE section).

In his pursuit of excellence, Ghotbi sought and recruited bright students and young professionals from diverse fields and backgrounds, and had them trained. His work ethic, honesty, open-mindedness and supportive managerial style were deeply appreciated and are fondly remembered to this day. During his tenure, NIRT eventually became the most important broadcasting network in the region. Under Ghotbi’s leadership, NIRT was a progressive organization that was ahead of its time. He supported the free exchange of opinions and treated all employees equally regardless of their social or institutional position; he empowered women to hold creative, technical, and executive positions, and offered daycare services to lighten the burden on families with young children. Importantly, he consistently resisted pressure from the intelligence services SAVAK, and defied attempts at censorship and interference in NIRT’s operations.

A polymath, Ghotbi also played a critical role in creating and developing key cultural platforms and programs. To name some: Department of Research Division on Iranian Culture, ( گروه پژوهش ایران زمین ), Center for the Preservation & Propagation of Iranian Music ( مرکز حفظ و اشاعه موسیقی ), NITV Chamber Orchestra ( ارکستر مجلسی تلویزیون ملی ایران ), Music Workshop for Children & Young Adults ( کارگاه موسیقی کودکان و نوجوانان ), Theatre Workshop ( کارگاه نمایش ), College of Television & Cinema ( مدرسه عالی تلویزیون و سینما ), Regional Music Group (گروه مو سیقی نواحی ایران ), Educational Television(تلویزیون آموزشی) , Tel-Film (تل فیلم), which produced Iranian documentaries and feature films, and Cinema-ye Azad ( سینمای آزاد ). Another significant contribution by NIRT to public education was the weekly Tamasha Magazine (مجله تماشا), as well as the publishing house Soroush (انتشارات سروش), whose titles ranged across the humanities, social sciences, and technology.

Ghotbi also led the annual Shiraz Arts Festival ( جشن هنر شیراز ـ تخت جمشید ), an international performing arts event that was held for eleven years every summer from 1967 to 1977 under the patronage of Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi and in later years, the Tous Festival ( جشن طوس ) in Mashhad, which celebrated Ferdowsi and other arts and rituals related to Iranian epic poetry, and the Festival of Popular Culture ( جشن فرهنگ مردم ) in Isfahan. Under his leadership, NIRT set up stations across the country and he encouraged provincial television stations to develop local programming, which were then broadcast nationwide to showcase the diversity and richness of Iranian culture.

He offered his resignation from NIRT on several occasions and for different reasons (see the first two questions in the Q&A section under the INTERVIEWS tab). He handed in his last resignation during the final stretch leading to the revolution when he felt he could no longer help, believing someone with political acumen should lead the organization instead. His resignation was accepted on September 8, 1978.

REVOLUTION

Two months later, one late evening, the Shah called Ghotbi directly at home, seemingly without the knowledge of his Chief of Protocol Amir Aslan Afshar. The Shah was about to appoint a new cabinet the next day and wanted Ghotbi to help prepare his speech for a televised address to the nation. Ghotbi tried to persuade the Shah to resort to someone with speechwriting expertise but to no avail. The Shah shared some thoughts on the speech over the phone and had some notes, a mix of his own writings as well as annotations by others, sent to Ghotbi and Seyyed Hossein Nasr (watch minutes 9:24 to 12:35 of Dr Nasr’s interview). The two men wrote a speech based on those collective notes that included “I too heard the message of your Revolution”. The speech was aired on November 6, 1978. At the time, a number of people called the palace to thank the Shah for his speech including former Prime Minister Ali Amini and Dr. Abdolkarim Lahiji, president of the International Federation for Human Rights. Ayatollah Shariatmadari, one of the most respected religious authorities in Iran, said it brought tears to his eyes but hesitated to share his views publicly as some members of his household had joined the revolution. The Shah himself thanked Nasr for it one day after it aired. Despite its expression of empathy with the people, however, the speech did not have the intended effect. Once in exile, having heard criticism that his message could have been seen as showing weakness, the Shah came to regret it and blamed Ghotbi for it. Others thought it was “too little too late” as the country had been in dire turmoil for quite some time. By November 1978 , the level of strikes, anti-government demonstrations and political unrest was such that it was unlikely that any speech could have assuaged the people’s level of discontent or altered the course of history. The Shah went into exile less than two months later, on January 16, 1979. Two weeks later, Ayatollah Khomeini arrived in Iran greeted by fervent crowds.

POST REVOLUTION

As the revolutionary fever grew, Ghotbi sent his family to safety in Paris but stayed on in Iran for several more months. Once the military declared itself neutral, clearing the field for the revolutionary forces to take over, he realized that there was nothing more he could do. He left his beloved Iran to join his family in France. He was condemned to death, in absentia—appearing among the first fifty names announced in the dailies by the revolutionary court, while two of his brightest former colleagues and staunch patriots, Mahmoud Jafarian and Parviz Nikkhah were brutally executed by the new regime.

Unable to return to his beloved homeland, he was obliged to forge a new path, though Iran was never far from his mind. He returned to his interest in science and engineering and took a job in telecommunications in the Washington, DC area where he settled for three decades. He and his wife eventually moved back to Paris to be close to their children and grandchildren.

Reza Ghotbi died from cancer in Paris, on August 26, 2024, at the age of 86. He is remembered for his unwavering patriotism, honesty, intelligence, empathy and selflessness.