Mohammad Mehdi Milani passed away unexpectedly on February 20th, 2021. Unexpected that a man who was so large in stature, in presence, in service to this community, in the magnitude of his mark - a man who was larger than life itself - can actually be gone.
He was born on the spring equinox in 1948 in Arak, Iran to Esmat Moshtaghi and Javad Milani-Tabrizi, a Persian rug exporter. He frequently used the Persian lunar calendar to change his birthdate and confuse his wife and children - (after spending years believing it was March 21st, he unceremoniously announced it was March 22nd one year at the dinner table.)
Mo came to the United States in 1972 to study electrical engineering at NC A&T State University. He joined Koury Corporation in 1980, and under the guidance of Joe Koury, whom he considered a second father, moved up the ranks from part-time maitre d’ at Joseph’s Restaurant in the Holiday Inn Four Seasons, to Executive Vice President for Hospitality, overseeing all hotel operations. A champion of the Triad’s hospitality, tourism, and sports business sectors for more than forty years, he was a member of the Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, Greensboro Sports Foundation, the Greensboro Hotel Motel Association, the Triad Youth Soccer Association, Greensboro Host Committee for numerous ACC and NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and a member of the local organizing committee for United States Figure Skating in 2011, 2015, and 2020. He ran with the Olympic Torch for the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was instrumental in bringing the 2019 World Irish Dancing Championship to Greensboro, and instrumental in hosting international conventions including the annual High Point Furniture Market and Market America.
The absolute pride and joy of his life was his family. He is survived by his beloved wife Tammy, and his beloved children Sahar, Camron, and Oliver. His sisters who survive him are Firouzeh, Farzaneh, and Minoo Milani of Iran; nieces and nephews, Maedeh and Morvarid Sadat, Meysam, Maryam and Mohammad Mirzaei, Reza and Gholamreza Zadfar of Iran. Aslo, surviving are Tanya Morris and Stevie Fox of Stuart’s Draft, Virginia; Keelee Flehan Huggins and Logan Flehan of Knoxville, Tennessee; Allison Flehan Collins and Jonathan Flehan of Charlotte, NC; and numerous much-loved cousins and relatives. He was a Father-figure and mentor to more people than can ever be listed. Friend to all.
He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Mehri.
Mo Milani was good. He was better than good. He was decent and honorable. He was generous and compassionate. He was steadfast and self-disciplined, to a fault. He lived his life by a code of integrity so rare and so apparent; it was the first thing anyone commented on upon meeting him. He was the best of us. To have lived a life with such honor. To be so loved. What a gift he was to us all. We will spend the rest of our lives doing our best to make him proud. We will spend the rest of our lives missing him.
Mo always worried about people in the community who do not have enough to eat. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Greensboro Urban Ministry Food Pantry.
Due to COVID, a small family service will be held. In the spring, a larger ceremony will be announced to honor and celebrate his life.
Remembrances of Mo may be shared by visiting www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.
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