in his adopted city. He was 83.
Delijani had started off in the real estate business in Tehran and was active in promoting trade between Iran and Japan after World War II.
With the revolution, he fled to Los Angeles where he took up real estate again and became a leader in the local Iranian Jewish community.
Among his projects, he tried to help fellow Iranian refugees who had trouble finding work by setting up small retail shops they could manage, his son told the Los Angeles Times.
In 1982, then-Mayor Tom Bradley approached Delijani and asked him to buy the ornate 1931 Los Angeles Theater, which faced likely demolition.
That sparked Delijani’s interest in preservation. He eventually bought and restored three other movie theaters from Hollywood’s heyday—the Palace, State and Tower.
Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, told the Times, “Mr. Delijani understood that the magnificent Broadway theaters really belong to us all. He wanted these movie palaces to survive for future generations to enjoy.”
At one point, Delijani was president of the Iranian American Jewish Federation and he negotiated the federation’s purchase of Hollywood Temple Beth El in 1998. It was once the center of activity for much of the Hollywood Jewish entertainment community and is now the center of the Iranian Jewish community around Los Angeles.
Delijani graduated from the University of Tehran Law School and then joined the family textile business before going into real estate.