Professor Richard Nelson Frye was Professor of Iranian Studies Emeritus at Harvard. He established the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern studies and taught at Harvard from 1948 to 1990, though his impact lingered even after his formal retirement ended.  Many appropriately referred to him as “the Dean of the World’s Iranists”.

Professor Frye was the author of more than twenty books and over 150 articles about the ancient Iranian culture. His work covered the spectrum of Iranian studies and the history of Iran and related cultures across the centuries, with  the relevant sources  and documents in multiple living and extinct languages ranging from Avestan and Old Persian to Sogdian, to present modern Iranian languages.  Early in his career, the editor and compiler of the monumental, encyclopedic Persian dictionary, Dehkhoda, gave him the honorific Irandoost, or Iranophile, which has since adorned the doorway to his office at Harvard.

He received his PhD in history and philology from Harvard in 1946, with his thesis on Narshakhi’s History of Bokhara.  He joined the Harvard faculty in 1948 and later became Agha Khan Professor of Iranian Studies.  Later, he founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at Harvard.  His books and articles on Iranian history and culture have endured as references on the subject. Some notable titles include Iran (1953), Persia (1968), The Heritage of Persia (1963), The Golden Age of Persia (1975),  History of Ancient Iran (1984), The Heritage of Central Asia (1996), Greater Iran (memoirs, 2005), and History of Bukhara (2007).

He passed away at the age of 94 on March 27^th, 2014.

One of the recent reports (sent to WCHV) from Iran indicates that Persian yellow deer held and bred in a protected environment have been at risk due to intruders who recently killed an animal at one of these sites.

Different species of Persian deer have been declared endangered and as a result selected habitats and parks have been allocated to breed Persian deer in captivity but it seems that the animals are not even safe there.

These protected areas are fenced to keep wolves and other predators out and it seems that in this case, the preventive measures were not enough to keep the deer safe.

Environmental activists say that the incident actually happened at Tehran’s Pardisan Park and adjacent to the Department of Environment building. The deer was about 6 years old and X-rays showed that three bullets had hit the animal’s neck, causing his death. The environmental experts also point out that this type of killing is not for hunting purposes and these individuals are obviously just after killing the animals brutally.

Persian yellow deer is one of the 74 animals in Iran that have been on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

It has been reported recently that the Chinese technicians working on the South Pars Gas Field are eating the turtles that have been listed as endangered species in Iran. The report on the Iranian TV which shows the turtles being prepared and cooked shows this small species of turtle.  Further research is required to find out if the Chinese technicians and workers are aware of the fact that these turtles are listed as endangered species by international organization or if they have been given any warnings by the Iranian authorities.

Several species of Iranian turtles have been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is illegal to collect, harm or kill any of the species on the endangered list- The Red List, and most countries around the world have regulations and guidelines against any one or groups causing harm to these endangered species. IUCN continues to list many such species in its Red List and advises countries on the preservation.

In Southern Iran, the shorelines span over 1800 km across the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea with many sites where different species of turtles exist.  Several small and big islands in the Persian Gulf with coastline of about 600 km are also home to several species of turtles.