Ali-Akbar Zargham

Ali-Akbar Zargham

Ali-Akbar Zargham, Persian علی اکبر ضرغام, (February 24, 1911 – December 1976) was the Finance Minister of Iran from December 5, 1959, to March 11, 1961, in the cabinets of Manouchehr Eghbal and Jafar Sharif-Emami.

Education

Ali-Akbar Zargham was born in Tehran in 1911. He attended Nezam High School, which was a military high school created by Reza Shah. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1934, and eventually finished his military studies at the War University (now known as the National Defense University) in 1940. He became a Major General in 1958 under Eghbal's premiership.

Ali-Akbar Zargham (far left), Teymur Bakhtiar (fourth from left), Manuchehr Eghbal (center), Jafar Sharif-Emami (left of Eghbal), Jamshid Amouzegar (right of Eghbal), Asadollah Alam (far right)

Public career

In 1951, Zargham was assigned to the military governor's office and was appointed as the director-general of the Department of Sugar the following year. In 1955, he became the director of customs and two years later he was appointed as the first minister of customs and monopolies. Finally, on December 5, 1959, he was chosen as the finance minister under Eghbal's cabinet and kept his position in Sharif-Emami's cabinet. After his time as minister, he participated in various public services. One being his involvement in the recovery of the city of Qazvin after a devastating earthquake that occurred in 1962 (later known as the 1962 Bou'in-Zahra earthquake), killing approximately 12,000 people.

Death

In December 1976, Ali-Akbar Zargham died from a heart attack in his home in Tehran at the age of 65.

Sources

عاقلی، دکتر باقر. شرح حال رجال سیاسی و نظامی معاصر ایران. ج. دوم. چاپ اول. نشر گفتار باهمکاری نشر علم، ۱۳۸۰. طباطبایی مجد، غلامرضا. دائرةالمعارف مصور زرین. انتشارات زرین، زمستان ۱۳۷۴. شابک ۹۶۴-۴۰۷-۰۱۹-۴.