Kaveh Pahlavan

A Memorial Service will be held on November 16th, 2024 from 2pm to 5pm at the Four Points by Sheraton Newton located at 320 Washington St, Newton, MA 02458.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Kaveh Pahlavan Endowed Scholarship Fund at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to help honor his legacy as a graduate, professor and researcher of 40 years. Donate at wpi.edu/+Pahlavan.
Accolades were no stranger to Kaveh Pahlavan, whether it was for sports or elevating the world of Wireless Communications. Kaveh was a greatly accomplished man whose loss will reverberate across continents. But what made Kaveh truly special was his absolute inability to be anyone but himself.
Kaveh started his life in Tehran, Iran, excelling simultaneously in mathematics and athletics. It could be said that his most remarkable talent of reciting Persian poetry was inspired at 16 years of age when he first gazed upon what would become the bearer of his soul for over 50 years. Kaveh married Farzaneh in Iran at a time when his college life was at a peak of excitement. He was on the national college volleyball championship team and his team represented Iran playing at the College Student Olympics in Moscow before moving himself and his new bride to the United States.
His first stop was the University of Oklahoma. As much as he enjoyed the comforts of the South, not a year later, he headed to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to take on the challenge of earning a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering focusing on Telecommunications. Two children later, he entered the 1980's as Professor Pahlavan. This was the beginning of building his legacy as a researcher with contributions to society both small and large.
Explaining the career of an accomplished Ph.D. in Engineering does not easily translate into layman's terms. Although Kaveh's work was no exception, the impact it had on billions of people is quite simple. He created the first comprehensive lab studying Wi-Fi (CWINS) where he tirelessly led research that solved the riddle of how to hold a Wi-Fi connection indoors. No longer is walking through a doorway or being in a separate room from an internet router the cause of dropping your Facetime call with Grandma. His groundbreaking work also allowed for more accurate GPS locations which are used daily in thousands of ways like getting directions from remote locations or tracking a loved one's device to ensure their safety. If things work as they should, Kaveh's research has left people unaware that it ever was needed.
A visionary in the field, he published pioneering textbooks, hundreds of seminal visionary papers and patents, and the first international journal on Wi-Fi. Kaveh was instrumental in developing Wi-Fi standards that ensured commercially developed products would not encounter compatibility issues. He was granted the IEEE Fellowship, Fulbright-Nokia Fellowship, WPI's Outstanding Research and Creative Scholarship award, and advised the U.S. National Research Council on wireless tech, just to name a few remarkable achievements. Through organizing key conferences and collaborating in his lab, he brought great minds together to elevate not only the research but also the people surrounding it. His ability to bridge the gap between research and industry application fostered an exciting era of innovation that was highlighted by his work as the chief technical advisor of Skyhook wireless, the company which sold Wi-Fi localization to Steve Jobs for adoption in the first iPhone in 2007.
For a man who enjoyed speaking for hours on end about solving the world's problems from centuries ago through the future, he really believed that when it came time to work, "don't talk, just do." When it came to his research, teaching, or even any household chore, if focus was required, he lasered in. And if it was your project he was overseeing or supporting, he committed himself to ensuring that your focus was just as unwavering. He felt successful when those he assisted succeeded. It was not his ego that was filled. It was his heart. Whether it be students, family, colleagues or friends, being able to push someone's journey along filled his cup.
Said best himself, Kaveh described his key to success as follows, "I think having an introvert personality, being keen on solving challenging problems, persistence, and a very high level of energy were my assets for creativity and productivity in research and scholarship as well as in all other aspects of life. I enjoy competition, I select a certain "thing" that I feel I am good at, then I work hard day and night for perfection in that "thing." This can be a challenging research problem, tedious writing of a book, the patient study of a philosophical concept or history of an era, or an athletic experience or a game like chess. This way, I have gained knowledge in diverse subjects in my profession and in life."
This "thing" showed up throughout his life as competing and winning as a Volleyball player and then a tennis player and then finally, after inviting his wife Farzaneh into his competitive world, as a tango dancer. It also came out through his intellectual side by studying and discoursing about Sufism, religions, world history, Persian poetry and more. He lived expansively, traveling the world, constantly evolving, never wearing blinders, and laughing often along the way. He lived a life full enough for two people, and slept half as much as one should.
Kaveh's intellect, leadership, and kindness will be deeply missed by family, friends, colleagues, students, and the broader technological community. His legacy will endure through the technologies he helped create, the companies he helped found, and the countless individuals he inspired.
As cancer took hold of Kaveh's body, he wanted nothing more than to live the little time he had left marinating in the love of his wife, his muse, and being appreciative of the full life they shared. Kaveh was one of the lucky ones who left this world while in the embrace of his true love Farzaneh. His daughter Nasim was also by his side.
To learn more about his life's journey through his own eyes, visit web-biography.wpi.edu/index.php/337-2/#.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Farzaneh; his son Nima; his daughter Nasim Kablan and her husband Shek, along with their children Roya, Navid, and Nilou; his brother Kambiz and his wife Jody; Kambiz's son Bardia with his wife Daria and their children Kata and Cael; his brother Kius, along with his son René and his wife Liene, as well as Kius's son Roham and his wife Shima with their two children Annie and Artin; his nieces Sura and Veis; his sister-in-law Farnaz Ghods and her husband Massroor and their children Sam, Ryan, and Sean; his brother-in-law Faramarz Nowtash and his son Ashkon with his wife Mallory; his brother-in-law Farhad Nowtash and his wife Sanaz and their children Amitis, Andia, and Kasra.