Our dear Leman passed away at 1:05 AM on September 17, 2015 at Hoag Hospital in Irvine of complications from pneumonia. She passed while sedated and not in pain. She had been cared for in a nursing home since early April due to experiencing progressive dementia. She was visited frequently there by her sister, her niece and her nephew as well as other friends while her cognition and body functions were rapidly deteriorating. Her departure has left a big void among us, yet we believe she is now in peace.

First of five siblings, Leman was born in Sebastopol, Russia on May 2, 1923 to Olivia Abashidze and Akbar Hosseinov (later changed to Dirik while living in Turkey). The family fled Batumi, Georgia in the aftermath of the invasion of the region by the Red Army. After several years of living in eastern Turkey, the family settled in Tehran, Iran. Leman's first marriage was to the Imperial Navy officer, Hassan Mohajer, a cousin of the late shah of Iran. The marriage ended in divorce and Leman moved back in with her parents until her second marriage to Dr. Mahmoud Ahari, a prominent surgeon and a widely-recognized proponent of alternative medicine in Tehran in 1973. The 22-year-long marriage ended with Dr. Ahari's passing in 1995.

Throughout her life, Leman, always with elegance and at the center of attention wherever she was, remained a most generous and kind person to all members of her family and her close friends. With not a shred of ill-intention in her, she respected everyone and remained a source of joy and comfort to others. Since 2008 after she become a permanent resident in the US, she lived with her sister and nephew in Irvine, where she was always surrounded by family members and friends and her day-to-day needs (including medical attention) were met as much as possible. Beginning around two years before her passing, as she crossed the age of 90, signs of dementia began appearing in her and every attempt was done with the help of her physicians to slow the pace of its advancement. In late March 2015, however, she had to be placed in a nursing home in the city of Lake Forest where health professionals could provide the care that she needed. She was visited by family members several times a week, but her condition continued to worsen and after a protracted period when she was just unable to eat or drink anything, a feeding tube was installed on her stomach to allow nutrients to reach her body. Even though that helped with giving some of her lost energy, her overall condition continued to deteriorate. She had not spoken a word in the last three months of her life. On September 15, shortly before midnight, she was taken to the hospital due to a worsening case of pneumonia. Just a little after 48 hours, she passed away in the hospital.

Leman is survived by her two siblings, her sister, Soad and her brother, Charles Cengiz, along with their children and the children of her late sister, Soheila, and late brother, Borhan. Although Leman treated all her nephews and nieces "like her own children", she never gave birth to a child of her own.

The funeral/burial service for our beloved Leman will take place on Wednesday, September 23, at 11:30 AM, at the El Toro Memorial Park. Please see the website for direction and other information.: http://www.occemeterydistrict.com/article.cfm?id=14 . The service will be followed by our gathering over lunch to celebrate Leman's life, her generosity, simplicity and gentleness, and also to celebrate the gift of Life that each of us has been bestowed and blessed with, as well as our love and friendship towards one another, and for Leman.