Dr. Gholam-Ali Zakeri—a multi-award winning professor, a devoted family man, a giving person, a well published
mathematician, and a humble individual—lived a successful life and improved the lives
of many whose paths crossed his.
Ali was born and raised in Iran. He received his B.S. from Jundi-Shapour University in 1975. A few years before the Iranian Revolution, he traveled to the United States to continue his higher education. He acquired his M.S. in mathematics at Michigan State University in 1978 and completed his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Kansas State University in 1985. His joy in doing research and passion in teaching mathematics was obvious. In 1989, he accepted a tenure-track faculty position at California State University Northridge and, around the same time, joined the math department at SMC as an adjunct faculty . . . he devoted his life to his students, colleagues and research. He published numerous papers in dynamical systems, numerical solutions to certain PDEs (Partial Differential Equations), and other areas in applied mathematics.
Ali was an outstanding teacher. His students admired him for his energy, breadth of knowledge, and sense of humor. He would have a seating chart on the first day of the class for each of his courses and was able to learn the names of all his students within the first few class meetings. His students found him to be an approachable and sensitive instructor; he truly cared for his students and their education. As a result, he won many teaching awards including the Teacher’s Excellence Award in the Spring of 2001 from the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society chapter at SMC. As a graduate advisor at CSUN, he mentored many students on getting through their master’s program – including a few of SMC’s younger tenure-track math faculty – and encouraged many current adjunct math faculty to teach at the college. Along with other mentees, he guided them in entering PhD programs or into applying for jobs utilizing their expertise.
Ali was a humble and kind person. His colleagues often went to him for advice. When one of his colleagues at CSUN was sick, Ali would visit him often and even took him to his doctor’s appointments. His active lifestyle and dedication to his community did not go unnoticed. He recently won the Faculty Service Award at CSUN. Ali respected his colleagues but never let his friendship stop him from standing up for what he felt was right.
Ali’s hobbies included gardening, reading poetry, and spending time with his family and friends. When one saw him around the Math department, he would always be engaged in an informative and pleasant conversation with others. He was very proud of his two children and his wife. On his webpage, he had a drawing given to him by his twin sons, Sam and Sina, when they were preschool age. He had attached to the drawing the following poem by Saa’di (a famous Persian poet from the 13th century):
Of one Essence is the human race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base;
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace.
Dr. Ali Zakeri will be remembered as a loyal friend, a supportive mentor, and a respected
colleague. His sense of humor, positive attitude towards life, and kindness will
never be forgotten. He lived a short life but it was a very productive life. HE WILL
BE MISSED!