Isaac Yomtovian
His name is Isaac, Pesare, Ebram Johood, son of Ebrahim the Jew. His father’s father was Eliyahu. His great-grandfather was Aghbaba, who was the son of Shelemo, who was the son of Yehazghel. Isaac’s parents were both born in Esfahan. The Jewish community of Esfahan traces its roots back 2,500 years to ancient Persia. After their marriage, his parents moved to Tehran’s Jewish ghetto in 1942.On August 19, 1948, shortly after the birth of the State of Israel, Isaac was born in Tehran, Iran in a modest house near Pahlavi Street, a stone’s throw from the Marble Palace of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The house in which he was born was located in a new Jewish neighborhood outside of Tehran’s Jewish ghetto, known as Mahaleh. Isaac attended a Muslim public elementary school because his father was unable to afford the tuition to the private Jewish school. During the six years of elementary school Isaac was taught Quran, Shariah, and Islamic history. His first four years of high school were completed at the private Jewish Kourosh School; the last two years of high school were completed at a private Muslim night school where he majored in mathematics. During the six years of high school, Isaac worked in his father’s fabric store located in South Tehran, in a modest, very conservative Muslim neighborhood. Isaac befriended many Muslim young people and Muslim families, learning their beliefs, traditions, and way of life. From time to time he lived in the homes of his Muslim friends.In 1966, Isaac was accepted into a number of universities in Tehran, but he chose to emigrate to Israel and join Kibbutz Gan Shmuel. He volunteered in the 1967 Six Day War and subsequently attended the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering. He remained active in the Zionist movement and worked in the Israeli Department of Defense, Survey Office. In 1971, Isaac was offered a scholarship in the Department of Water Resources Research of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he obtained a Master of Science degree. In 1974, he attended the post-graduate program of the Agricultural Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering Department of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. During this period he remained active in the Iranian Students Association and was privileged to meet Ashraf Pahlavi, the Shah’s sister, who periodically visited Cornell University.In 1976, Isaac joined his older brother in Minneapolis, Minnesota and worked for private engineering firms in St. Paul and Minneapolis. In 1978, he opened his first engineering firm, Enviroscience, and married Roslyn Kaplan, MD. In 1988, he and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1990, Isaac obtained his Executive MBA from Case Western University and expanded his real estate development projects in Ohio and New York.Isaac has served as an engineering and construction arbitrator, registered with the American Association of Arbitrators. He has completed Leadership Cleveland, and has served as the president of several Rotary Clubs, as well as the boards of several charitable, educational, and religious organizations.Mr. Yomtovian has published technical engineering articles in professional journals on the subjects of civil and environmental engineering; the privatization of public assets; and toxic and hazardous waste control and management. In addition, he has written articles for the local media on the subjects of Iranian Jewish life, Iranian culture and civilization and the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Chagrin Valley Times, The Cleveland Jewish News, and The Sun Newspapers have published his views on Jewish holidays in Iran, as well as stories about his life’s journey from Iran to Pepper Pike, Ohio.Isaac is a frequent guest speaker for various educational and religious groups in the Cleveland Metropolitan area, including Park Synagogue; B’nai Jeshurun Congregation; the JCC (Jewish Community Center) LearnInn; local Rotary
