Floria Hakimi

Floria Hakimi

October 24, 1955 — August 5, 2018

Floria Nafeiy Hakimi, an iconic community leader and real estate agent, died on August 5th, 2018 in a plane crash in Santa Ana, California. She was 62. Her 32 year old son, Navid Hakimi (known professionally as Navid Izadi), also died in the same accident.

Born in Esfahan, Iran in 1955, Floria was the daughter of Ferdows Sarrafan, a loving homemaker, and Mohammad Nafeiy, an army general and successful business owner.

She grew up with an older and younger brother in pre-Revolution Iran where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood among a large extended family. Floria graduated from the National University of Iran with highest honors in Political Science and subsequently received a full scholarship for her graduate studies.

She then went on to complete a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology from Pahlavi University. While attending graduate school, Floria taught English in the language department and led a student political party. She left Iran during a time of upheaval in 1978, returning for a short time with her first-born son following the Iranian Revolution.


By the mid 1980s, Floria had made the San Francisco Bay Area her permanent home, where her older brother was then a PhD student at Stanford University. Floria and her two sons lived in Marin County (Tiburon) and then the Peninsula (Palo Alto and Burlingame) before moving to the East Bay in 1987. Floria launched her real estate career in 1991 in Danville and was later one of the Founding Partners at Empire Realty Associates.

Floria was an iconic community leader and tireless volunteer who served as a founding member and philanthropist for many world-class organizations, among them Nima Farsi School, School of Practical Philosophy, Moms Against Poverty and Persian Center. She was resilient, loving, resourceful, wise and elegant beyond measure.

Floria is survived by her mother Ferdows Sarrafan; first-born son, Aden Hakimi; two brothers Farhad and Farzad Nafeiy; grandson Tesla; and an expansive community of relatives and friends. For her family and all who were privileged to know her, Floria led by example as a devoted mother and family member, business and community leader, teacher and friend. She lives on in the countless lives she touched and is deeply, forever missed.