Dr. Mansour Mansourkia

Mansour (Mike) Mansourkia, beloved husband, father and grandfather, passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home on July 3, 2020 at the age of 88. To say he led a spectacular life is truly an understatement.

A celebration of Mansour's life will be held on Friday, July 10th at 11AM at National Funeral Home at 7482 Lee Highway in Falls Church followed by a grave side ceremony. A small luncheon will be held at the Mansourkia home at 1078 Mill Field Court, Great Falls at 2:30 PM. For everyone’s safety, attendance is required to be limited by invitation only and masks will be mandatory.

Mansour was born in Tehran, Iran to a working class family. He lost his dad as a teenager and joined the military as a means to support his mother and sister. By his early twenties, his stellar academic performance and embrace of military discipline earned him multiple awards and a coveted scholarship to pursue his military and diplomatic training in the United States, and he eventually returned to the States to pursue his post graduate studies and earn his PhD from the University of Southern California.

He would go on to become a university professor and best selling author. All the while, he continued to serve for decades in the Iranian Army with distinction right up through the Iranian revolution. Ever the principled man, he quickly realized that the goals of the Islamic government were not consistent with his morals and the future he wanted for his family. He pursued every avenue to secure a safe passage for his family back to the United States and remained behind to continue to provide for them and sacrificed his own safety to secure their freedom. Soon after his wife and children departed from Iran, their home in Tehran was raided and Mansour was imprisoned and accused of treason as a result of having been educated in the United States and his service as a military officer in the Shah’s regime. At a time when the execution of military commanders was a daily occurrence, through prayer and God's miracle, he was given a reprieve and eventually released on the condition that he put his experience and education towards building a new military for the Islamic regime.

As always, he showed exceptional courage and risked his life in pursuit of a better future. In early 1981, just months after negotiating his own release from prison, in a post revolution act of defiance, he quietly left his home one night never to be seen again in Iran. Having spent months planning a surreptitious escape that involved an underground resistance network, use of multiple forged identities, hiding in farmers' donkey carts and traveling by foot at night through villages, he escaped the Iranian border to Iraq. Days later, he arrived at the US Embassy in Paris, France to describe his ordeal and seek political asylum for entry to the United States as a refugee immigrant.

Once settled in the United States, having left behind every material possession he owned, no job was too menial, difficult or laborious if it helped him provide for his family. He worked tirelessly on his version of the American dream. Eventually, he saved and borrowed enough to start a small dry cleaning business where 90-hour workweeks were very much the norm. He did that day in, day out, for decades. That small retail business grew to multiple businesses with his wife, Mahin, and the whole family joining in to help make the dream a reality. And when he had finally achieved a modest level of success, he risked it all again to pursue his dream of real estate development. Since the late 1990's his primary focus has been to acquire and lovingly restore historical buildings in the Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan neighborhoods of Washington, DC. He single handedly created hundreds of jobs and a family environment for his employees, many of whom became long time friends. Along the way, he proudly became an American citizen and sought in every way to give back to the country that had given him his freedom.

He was an adventurist and avid sportsman with a lifelong love for travel, skiing and boating. He traveled extensively with Mahin and often with his family. Trips with his grandchildren such as those to the Caribbean, Europe and almost weekly drives to their beloved Deep Creak Lake home were among his favorite escapes. He was a greatly respected member of the Washington, DC small business community and various Persian cultural and academic societies. Even before he had financial security, he taught by example, the importance of serving those less fortunate and gave considerable support to the philanthropic endeavors in which he believed.

All throughout, he never forgot the purpose of his work and his legacy. Everything he did and all he achieved, he did so to secure his family's future. He maintained a steadfast belief in the importance of hard work, integrity, humility and faith in God.

He was preceded in death by his father, Asghar Bontour; his mother, Fatimeh Bontour and his beloved son-in-law, Charles Robinson.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Mahin Mansourkia; his children, Mojgan (Mojy) Robinson, Mahdad (Mark) Mansourkia; Mahtab Abar and Magnolia (Maggie) Mobley; his sons-in-law whom he dearly loved and respected, Nariman Abar and Ken Mobley and his biggest source of pride and joy-his seven grandchildren: Melody Mansourkia, Darya Abar, Ayda Abar, Cyrus Robinson, Leila Grace Mobley, Emma Mobley and Madeleine Mobley.

Ever the generous man, Mansour had a long-standing request that friends and loved ones honor his memory through charitable acts of their own. Two charities in particular, Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org) and the Child Foundation (childfoundation.org), have been identified as worthy of Mansour’s legacy. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends consider making a donation to either of these organizations whose missions embody Mansour’s deep belief and devotion to every human being’s right to healthcare, education and freedom.