Background
Mahmoud Khayami was born in 1930 in Mashhad where he attended elementary and high school.
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Mahmoud Khayami
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In 1951 he transferred to Tehran and before long he was involved in the automotive industry. Iran National was destined to become the largest industrial complex in Iran, today known as Iran Khodro or IKCO. One of the leading champions of Iran"s industrialization of the 1960s-70s, he began the production of the popular Peykan cars in 1967, based on cooperation with the Hillman-Hunter company of England which provided the model for lieutenant By 1979, 100,000 cars were produced annually with approximately 44 percent of the parts manufactured in Iran.
By 1979 Iran National and its affiliated enterprises employed over 20,000 workers in Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz.
In later life, Mahmoud Khayami has been active as a philanthropist and collector of fine Persian art, forming the Khayami Collection. Among his activities have been the hosting at Chatham House (RIIA) of inter-religious conferences.
He is involved with the Encyclopædia Iranica project, and chairs the board of editors. He now splits his time between the United Kingdom, the United States, and France, having been forced to leave Iran at the time of the 1979 revolution.
Khayami is resident in the United Kingdom for over 20 years and has never returned to Iran.
His philanthropic work (now performed largely through the Khayami Foundation) was recognised in 2004 when he was invested as a Knight of the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester by Pope John Paul II, and in 2006 when he was invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Francis I by the Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro. He has also been decorated by the late King Hussein of Jordan. lieutenant was announced by the Department of Education and Skills in 2005 that Mr Khayami had become a sponsor of the United Kingdom Government"s Academy programme and had sponsored two academies which will open in Sheffield during 2007.
He was appointed by The Queen as an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for services to education.
He appeared in the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List. On 3 June 2007, the Observer reported that he had donated £1 million to the Labour Party (one of the most generous ever donations to Labour, eclipsed only by a £2m donation from the steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, and a similar sum given by Lord Sainsbury).
Connections
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Born
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Nationality
Iran -
Religion
Christian -
Political Party
Labour Party