Jamshid Amouzegar obit

Jamshid Amouzegar, ex-PM, dies at age of 93.

 He was not on the list.

Jamshid Amouzegar, who had the misfortune to become prime minister of Iran just weeks before the revolution broke out, died last Tuesday in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 93.

He graduated from Tehran University with degrees in law and engineering, then moved to the US and received his doctorate from Cornell University.

Amouzegar entered the government as deputy minister of health under Prime Minister Jahanshah Saleh in 1955. He was appointed minister of labor and then minister of health by Prime Minister Hassan-ali Mansour.

He subsequently became minister of finance in the cabinet of Amir Abbas Hoveyda, remaining in that post for nine years. As finance minister, he would attend OPEC meetings and, in the early 1970s, with Saudi Oil Minister Zaki Yamani, engineered a series of price hikes that ultimately quadrupled the price of oil and provided the resources for Iran to modernize.

On December 21, 1975, he was taken hostage with other ministers by Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal during an OPEC meeting.

Amouzegar was appointed prime minister on August 7, 1977, succeeding Amir Abbas Hoveyda. However, he rapidly became unpopular as he attempted to slow the overheated economy with measures that, although generally thought necessary, triggered a downturn in employment and private sector profits that would later compound the government's problems.

In January 1978, the first protests that were to become the revolution broke out in Qom. The rest of his term was dominated by the escalating protests. He resigned and was replaced by Jafar Sharif-Emami on August 27, 1978.