Ayele was born October 22, 1954 in Gohatsion, Ethiopia to Dagne Feleke
and Elfinesh Workineh. Always an exceptional student, Ayele won a full
scholarship to the elite General Wingate School in Addis Ababa,
graduating 4th in his class, and was awarded the Haile Selassie I Prize as
one of the top 10 high school graduates in Ethiopia.
He enrolled at Addis Ababa University, where he studied until all
Ethiopian universities were shut down due to the burgeoning student
protest movement. In 1972, Ayele was awarded a full scholarship by the
Ethiopian Ministry of Education to study Civil Engineering in Moscow,
Russia. In Moscow, Ayele grew passionate about Ethiopian politics, and
he joined the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP).
In January 1975, Ayele left Moscow for Ethiopia, and spent the next
several years with the EPRP as a fighter and revolutionary.
Ayele arrived in Los Angeles, California as a political refugee in 1981. He
received a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Computer Science and
Applied Mathematics from UCLA in 1985. In Los Angeles, he married his
wife Yeshearg, had three sons, and worked in a variety of private sector
computer programming and information technology roles. Ayele and
family moved to Bellevue, Washington in 1990, where he began a 30-year
career in public sector information technology working for King
County/METRO, Sound Transit, and the City of Seattle. In 2001, Ayele
received his MBA with Honors from the University of Washington Foster
School of Business.
Ayele was preceded in death by his mother, Elfinesh, his father, Dagne,
his brother, Bekele and his sister, Tewabech. He is survived by his wife
Yeshearg, and their sons Samson, David, and Daniel.
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