May 17. On this date in 2017, Firuz Kazemzadeh, retired professor emeritus of history at Yale University who served on the NSA of the US from 1963 to 2000, died at the age of 92. He was born in Moscow, USSR, to a Russian mother and Iranian father employed at the Iranian embassy in Moscow.

May 17. On this date in 2017, Firuz Kazemzadeh, retired professor emeritus of history at Yale University who served on the NSA of the US from 1963 to 2000, died at the age of 92. He was born in Moscow, USSR, to a Russian mother and Iranian father employed at the Iranian embassy in Moscow.

Firuz Kazemzadeh was born in Moscow on October 27, 1924, to an Iranian father and a Russian mother. His father served in the Iranian embassy in Moscow. After completing his primary and secondary education in Moscow, Kazemzadeh (then aged 16) and his family moved to Iran. In 1944, during World War II, he travelled from Tehran to the United States and entered Stanford University, graduating in 1946 and obtaining an MA in 1947. In 1950 Kazemzadeh received a Ph.D. in Russian history from Harvard University.

Kazemzadeh taught at Harvard from 1954 to 1956, then moved to Yale where he was professor of history until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1992. While at Yale, he also served as Master of Davenport College. He was the author and co-author of a number of books on the history of Russia and Iran, as well as numerous articles and reviews for authoritative scholarly publications.

Between May 15, 1998 and May 14, 2003, Kazemzadeh served as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, first appointed to this position in 1998 by President Bill Clinton, and in 2001, reappointed by US Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle.
Kazemzadeh was an adherent of the Bahá'í Faith and, from 1963 to 2000, served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States.

Firuz Kazemzadeh died, aged 92, on May 17, 2017.