​Ali C. Razi

CSU Trustee Emeritus, Philanthropist, Developer

California State University, San Bernardino

Ali C. Razi has shown tireless commitment to public higher education in California, giving generously both of his time and his resources to support various aspects of the California State University's work. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the California State University by Governor Pete Wilson in 1996 and served until 2001, always with great passion and dedication.

He provided exemplary leadership of the Committee on Campus Planning, Buildings and Grounds and served as chair of the Committee on Institutional Advancement, providing not only leadership, but also personal funding for the Trustees Scholarship program, which targets the most needy and deserving students in the university. He is also a distinguished member of the CSU Foundation Board of Governors. The California State University and the citizens of California have benefited greatly from his dedicated service.

Mr. Razi has said that his father, who served as a high school principal and as a member of Iran's Supreme Council of Education, taught him at an early age to respect the power of education. He earned a civil engineering degree from King's College at the University of London in 1963 and an M.B.A. from Tehran University in 1967. While living and working in Iran, he served as a lecturer at the University of Tehran Polytechnic.

Early in his career, Mr. Razi directed the construction of an industrial and residential planned community for 6,000 residents near Tehran. He also planned the world's largest oil pipeline. His budding career in Iran was curtailed when Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, the former shah of Iran, fled the country in 1979. Arriving in California from Iran in 1979, Mr. Razi began his career anew as a highly respected builder and developer, and formed the Stratham Group of Companies in 1984. Since then, he has become a major owner and developer of real estate throughout Southern California.

For his commitment to excellence, the Baldy View chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California honored him as the "San Bernardino County Builder of the Year" in 2001. His keen interest in education, his devotion to the mission of the California State University, and his seemingly endless energy in promoting public higher education as the means to individual and societal success have had a lasting impact on all Californians and especially on the students, faculty and staff of the California State University.

In recognition of his contributions and service as an exemplary spokesperson for California's public higher education, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University, San Bernardino are proud to confer upon Ali C. Razi the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.