Behrooz Pirayesh

Behrooz Pirayesh, 78, died on Saturday 30th December 2017, in Marlborough MA, after a period of failing health.  He was the loving husband of Leyla, to whom he was married for 49 years and the beloved father of Haleh and Bahareh.  He was born in Tehran, Iran on February 5th, 1939 to the late Taghi and Alamtaj (Panahi) Pirayesh. 
 
As the founder of GHARCH IRAN, Behrooz was highly revered as “The Father of Mushrooms”. He was the first person to grow mushrooms in the country and to develop and bring an otherwise un-known concept to the market.
 
Since he loved eating mushrooms so much and couldn’t find anywhere to buy them in Iran, he was determined to do something about it! 
 
Having achieved a degree in Agriculture at Leeds University in England, Behrooz was inspired to own a farm for himself and realise his ambition of making the possibility of growing mushrooms in Iran a reality.  When this plan was put into play, Behrooz and his wife Leyla were incredibly young and didn’t have a large amount of finances behind them. Armed with knowledge, skill and pure determination, Behrooz and Lily were set to succeed!  They initiated the process by importing the mushroom spawn from England and Switzerland. However, after the revolution in Iran, sanctions were in place and the importation process was no-longer possible.  Behrooz and Leyla after a number of experiments in their home kitchen, they finally found a formula which would allow them to manufacture the spawn themselves in Iran!  After a lot of hard work, they began to grow and develop the mushrooms. The product was finally taken to market. When Behrooz had developed this idea, the concept of eating mushrooms in Iran was un-known. On distributing the product to the shops, questions were often asked, as to whether the product was edible! 
 
Behrooz was a learned man who dedicated his life to the support and development of growing, teaching and writing books about the growth of mushrooms in Iran.  The business which he started, GHARCH IRAN, still exists under the same name and his legacy of growing mushrooms in Iran still continues. 
 
Besides his wife Leyla and his two daughters Haleh and Bahareh, Behrooz is survived and sadly missed by his two grandchildren Tina and Rod, his sons in law Ramin Ferdows and Mehdi Mortaz as well as his sisters Guity and Haydeh, his brothers Behzad and Behnam, nieces and nephews Firouzeh, Lily, Shahriar and Sanam and other nieces and nephews, sisters in laws and brother in laws. Behrooz is also survived by many cousins, friends and coworkers.

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