Passed away on July 27, 1980, in Egypt, the former king and Shahanshah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, at the age of sixty, surrounded by his wife and two of his children. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was born on October 26, 1919, to Reza Khan, who later became the Shah of Iran in 1925 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, and his second wife, Turkmen princess Tadj ol-Molouk. He assumed the throne upon his father’s abdication in 1941 and was the last Shah of Iran from 1941 until the Iranian Revolution forced him to overwhelmingly abdicate as monarch in 1979. During the course of his reign, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi utilized his power to modernize and westernize the nation of Iran, but without making political and economic reforms and violating human rights, these actions caused considerable discontent among the population. Eventually, opposition to his rule became so widespread it sparked a revolution leading to his deposition, and exile in 1979. His death was mourned by many and he will be remembered as a prominent political figure in Iranian history.