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"In the passing away of Ervad Soli P. Dastur, the North American Zarathushti community has lost one of its leading lights. Soli Uncle, as he was fondly called, has left a huge legacy and touched the lives of thousands he came in contact with,” noted a communiqué from the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA). Following the demise of the 85-year-old model mobed in Florida on May 29, 2021 the family requested that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to FEZANA’s Ervad Soli P. Dastur Memorial Fund to ameliorate the conditions of mobeds in Udvada. A guiding force for the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC), yet another initiative in his memory was announced as NAMC’s Ervad Soli P. Dastur Scholarship Fund with a goal "to raise at least $100,000 (Rs 73,35,920). We have donors to match up to $50,000 (Rs 36,67,960).”

 

 

 

 

 

 

His teleconferencing Zoroastrian Religion Class initiated a decade before the pandemic continued to benefit Zoroastrians from all over the world as did the Weekly Zoroastrian Scripture Extracts with translation and audio recitations. He was a regular contributor to the FEZANA Journal as also the erstwhile Hamazor quarterly published by the World Zoroastrian Organisation. At the North American Zoroastrian Congress in 2010, FEZANA conferred on him the Outstanding Zarathushti Award. NAMC recognized him with its Distinguished Scholar Award in 2018 and at the silver jubilee of the Zoroastrian Association of Florida in 2019 he was presented the Ervad Darab B. Unwalla Award for 25 years of dedicated service.
When he was put on a ventilator last December, the collective prayers of the community and a non-stop 24-hour prayer vigil planned by the NAMC contributed to his recovery. Notwithstanding his cardiac complications, the buoyant beacon continued to heartily participate in major community events whether reciting the benedictions in Avestan with its English translation or chairing sessions with his pragmatic, level-headed approach. At the FEZANA annual general meeting hosted in Orlando in 2019 he had played an active role. Even though the Wingate hotel had a bus service for airport transfer, he would insist that local members make repeated trips to the airport in their own vehicles to personally receive visitors.
Born in Tarapur as the youngest of 11 children to a priestly family from Udvada, after qualifying as a navar, maratab and saamel he was confirmed a yaozdathregar mobed at the Iranshah. After his early education at the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute and two years of Science at St Xavier’s College he did his graduation from the Bombay University Department of Chemical Technology. Earning a J. N. Tata scholarship, he later completed his MS and PhD in chemical engineering from the Northwestern University, Illinois. He served Procter and Gamble Company in different capacities: research chemical engineer, computer technologist, developing store shelf management software.
After retirement in 1994, when Soli and his wife Jo Ann took up residence in Bradenton, Florida he was consultant for grocery and mass merchandising industries. Always keeping his head covered at Zoroastrian events, he would indulgently refer to his wife as "Gorani” (wife of a priest). At Zoroastrian functions she would often be attired in a sari worn Parsi style. At the FEZANA event in Orlando he had urged all the ladies in the community attending the Gala Awards night to come dressed in saris. And, of course, they obliged their much respected priest. In his free time he enjoyed playing tennis and dabbling with the computer. The couple has twin daughters Shirin Dastur-Simmons and Anahita Hodge, and five grandchildren.
When reciting an invocation on the first day of the Orlando meet, Soli’s prayer in Avestan was translated as "Hold your feet, hold your hands, hold your understanding in readiness for the purpose of doing proper charitable deeds and for the purpose of avoiding improper, untimely, uncharitable ways…”