Hasan Balyuzi

From Bahaikipedia

Hasan Muvaqqar Balyúzí (1908 - 1980) was a Hand of the Cause of God and prominent Iranian Bahá'í. He was born in Shiraz, Iran in Sept. 1908, he studied at the American University of Beirut and the London School of Economics. He worked for BBC in the Persian Section, part of his work involved translating English literature into Persian. To this day many of his translations remain the standard Persian versions. In 1941 he married Mary Brown, they had five sons. He remarked, “A girl has not been born into our family for two hundred years.”

Though Balyuzi was a cousin of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, he did not consider himself a Bahá'í until meeting the Guardian on his way to Beirut. At that moment he gave his allegiance to the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh and promoted it whole heartedly the rest of his life.

As one of the first Bahá'ís to attend the American University in Beirut he helped newcomers get settled and organized Bahá'í activities. In London he continued this involvement and was elected, in 1933, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Great Britain. He was re-elected for the next twenty-seven years, and served seventeen of those years as its Chairman. At the same time he was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of London and various committees too numerous to mention. He was, later, also a member of the Auxiliary Board and in 1957, appointed a Hand of the Cause of God. He passed in February 1980.