Babak Sadr; Author, Engineer and Educator

A memorial service will be held today for Babak Sadr, a UCLA instructor, author and innovative electrical engineer.

Sadr died Jan. 23 of lymphatic cancer at Westlake Village Selic House Cancer Institute. He was 33.

Raised in Tehran, Iran, Sadr was a whiz kid whose family arrived in the United States in 1977. They settled in Agoura Hills two years later.

At age 19, Sadr worked at the NASA research center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence project.

Shortly thereafter, Sadr--who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California--founded his own firm, Parta Corp., which led to consulting work for Xerox, Lear and Seimes corporations.

In 1986, Sadr joined the UCLA Extension teaching staff and designed a great deal of the curriculum for computer technology-related engineering courses, according to Don Hausknecht, academic director for information systems classes at UCLA Extension. Sadr was an authority in his field and developed programming techniques now employed by Microsoft and other major software companies, said Hausknecht, adding that Sadr wrote a book on the subject for one of his classes.

Sadr quickly became one of the most popular instructors because of his knowledge and enthusiasm. In 1994, UCLA Extension honored him as Instructor of the Year.

A year ago, martial arts enthusiast Sadr injured his back while practicing judo. The injury led to a discovery and diagnosis of cancer.

Just days before his death, Sadr completed a 454-page book on computer technology called “Unified Objects,” which will be published later this month.

“His last wish was to ensure that his book got published so that he could share his knowledge with the future generations of scientists and engineers,” said Sadr’s brother, Ramin Sadr of Agoura Hills.

In addition to his brother, Sadr is survived by his wife, Laura, and his parents, Abohassan and Zohreh of Agoura Hills.

A memorial service will be held today from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel, 880 S. Westlake Blvd., Westlake Village. Funeral services are pending. The family requests that donations be made to the American Cancer Society.