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NEWS RELEASE

New Mayor of Beverly Hills to Address CSUN’s Engineering Class of ‘07

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., April 18, 2007) — Jimmy Delshad, the newly elected mayor of Beverly Hills, has a powerful message of hope and fulfillment for the spring 2007 graduates of Cal State Northridge’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

As the alumni speaker for the college’s commencement ceremony, set for 4 p.m. on May 31, Mayor Delshad will bring that message to them in person.

"The feeling I have is to try to convince them that anything their heart desires, this is the country in which they can accomplish it," he said.

"When I graduated from CSUN, my biggest dream was to become a chief engineer at an electronics company," said the engineering alumnus, who graduated from Northridge in 1964. "I didn’t even know there was a lot more, so much more I could accomplish."

Mayor Delshad knows it now. In March, he made history with his election as the top official of Beverly Hills, instantly becoming one of the highest ranking Iranian-born public officials in the nation.

His path to political success led him straight through what was then San Fernando Valley State College.

As a 19-year-old, he and his two brothers—Mike (Manouchehr) and Fred (Freydoon)—had left their native Iran for the United States, settling first in Minnesota. Before long, however, the promise of California attracted the three young men, who peeled their way through mounds of potatoes and cleaned dirty cafeteria dishes for rent money.

But they quickly made friends, one of whom told them about Valley State. All three enrolled in its College of Engineering, sharing books to economize.

"There weren’t many Iranians there at that time," Mayor Delshad said, "but we felt at home. They made us feel very welcome."

The brothers started an international club to embrace other cultures at the institution. And since all three had received musical training in their homeland, they soon were putting on music shows at Northridge, "creating an intercultural exchange with others," he said. "Through music, we wanted to create harmony."

That harmony paid their way through college. As the Delshad Trio, they played an international mix of music at Christmas parties, weddings and bar mitzvahs, with Jimmy on the santur—an ancient Persian instrument smaller than a dulcimer—Fred on accordion and Mike playing the violin.

But the Delshad brothers also knew how to study. Mayor Delshad recalls that Northridge had "great professors, in chemistry and fluid dynamics." A member of Tau Beta Pi, The Engineering Honor Society, he tackled engineering with relish, frequently making the dean’s list.

American history, he recalled with humor, was another matter.

"My first year at CSUN, I had a professor who was not very tolerant of people who don’t know American history," he said. On the first exam, the professor posed a question about early American minister Cotton Mather. "I didn’t know that gentleman," said Delshad, who gamely wrote an entire essay on "The Matter of Cotton," covering in detail the importance of cotton to the South.

Facing the possibility of an "F", Delshad dropped the class, re-took it later—when his English skills had matured—and earned "A’s" and "B’s."

After graduation, Delshad went to work for Ampex Corporation in Culver City and later started his own electronics company. He served two terms as the president of Sinai Temple in Westwood, became involved with the nonprofit world and in March made headlines in the Beverly Hills election that broadcast his name around the world.

"Since then, many former Valley State students have gotten in touch and we’ve had some wonderful reunions," said the mayor. "Some even came to my inauguration."

So Jimmy Delshad’s commencement message will come from the heart: "Only in America can you come from peeling potatoes to election as mayor. This country gave me the freedom to do it."