Born and raised in Sari, Mazandaran, Iran

November 4, 1941

Son of Mohamad Espahbodi and Sakineh Behnejad

Brother of Shaahin, Mohamad Ali, Yâvar, Jamshid

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Imagine the peak of WW2, the world is in turmoil, German planes smothering bombs over Britain, France, Yugoslavia and the rest of Europe; German tanks preparing to invade the Soviet Union, Italians and Ottomans joining the Germans, the Japanese naval armada dominating the Pacific just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The father of modern Iran, Reza Shah has just abdicated and forced into exile as a result of the Anglo-Soviet invasion. Now zoom into Mazandaran, the mountainous region of Northern Iran, where the Soviet army has entered from the north and breaks into a home. A mother escapes by jumping from a window in the city of Shâhi and runs 20km to join her relatives in Sari. She is more than 8 months pregnant when the Soviets stormed in. Her husband is away, enlisted in the Iranian military service.

Her son Mojtaba was born, raised in the mountain cradle of Sari. During elementary and high school in Sari, he would spend 3 months every year in the nature of the highlands. In 1959 he moved to Tehran as a student of Tehran University in Law and Economics, where he completed his Bachelors and MS.

In 1966, age 25, he follows his father’s footsteps and enlists in the military service in Shiraz. Between 1968-72 he worked as an adviser stationed in different units until his invitation to work in the Prime Ministry Office of Iran. During this time he meets his first wife, Maryam and in 1972, their daughter Nazanine is born in Tehran.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1980 he moves to Spain, then a year later to Paris, age 40, followed by Costa Rica where he was appointed Board of Director of a bank. He finds his way to California by 1984 and eventually back to Paris. He takes up work in hospitality management (hotel business) in French Catalina for 3 years.

Together with Nazanine, they return to the US in 1990 and eventually he moves back to Paris and marries again in 1995 to Mersedeh.

Together with his second wife, Mersedeh, and step daughter, Bahareh they moved to California where they remained.

In his final years he embraced grandfather-hood and close companionship with friends and family until his death.

He lived an abundant and storied life, deeply knowledgeable in the ways of the world, confronting uncertainty with resolve and determination, from before his birth until his last breath, he exuded strength and gentle kindness to all. He will be missed.

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He is survived by his wife Mersedeh Tahvildari

His daughter Nazanine and her husband Hamid Bagheri and their children Dariyan and Aryssa

His step daughter Bahareh, her husband Mahbod Rashidi and their son Rayaan

His brother Shaahin with two children Vandad and Parim