Ata Mansoori, 87, passed away on May 4th at home with his wife Susan by his side in Winter Garden, FL.
Ata was known for his charming smile, open heart, generosity, and unwavering devotion to his family. A passionate storyteller and jokester, he loved to entertain people and make them laugh while also sharing the wisdom life bestowed upon him. He also loved making people feel welcome and was happiest at home with his family or at extended family gatherings. He spent nearly 50 years as a respected senior engineering manager at Boeing and loved travel, nature, current events, Costco, and poker.
Born in Taft, a suburb of Yazd, Iran, he grew up surrounded by his family’s pomegranate, walnut, and mulberry orchards. His heart was always rooted there and then grew after immigrating with his family to India, where he spent most of his formative years and youth. Education played a leading role in his life, and he attended St. Vincent High School in Pune, where he played on the football (soccer) team and completed his intermediate science studies. His name is still on the wall for academic achievements.
A point of pride he often shared was his early entrepreneurial spirit starting in his high school years. With his father’s support, he opened a small library in a vacant family storefront named Gullestan Library. It quickly became a popular gathering place and social hub for students and the community as a whole. He offered weekly rentals of comic books and novels, including Marvel comics, making reading more accessible at a time when books were expensive.
He went on to study engineering in Bombay at the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, graduating with honors in Mechanical Engineering and receiving two gold medals for academic excellence—a rare distinction.
At the age of 26, with a young man’s capacity to dream and a drive to further his education, he became the first in his family to move to the United States in 1964, traveling alone from Bombay via France to New York by boat before continuing on to Houghton, Michigan. There, he earned his master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with honors from Michigan Technological Institute. During this time, he also helped to bring the first of his family over.
He was recruited by Boeing during an on-campus interview and relocated to Seattle. He built a long and successful career there, starting as a structural engineer and ultimately rising to a senior management role on their Customer Service Engineering team. He was widely respected for his professionalism and traveled extensively in support of Boeing’s global operations, visiting six continents and numerous countries. During his early tenure, he got his Master of Business Administration at Seattle University, and he retired after nearly 50 years of service.
While in Seattle, he met his wife Susan, who stole his heart not just with her beauty, but with her kindness and her own storytelling prowess. With a desire to grow a family, they raised three children together in Redmond on a few acres filled with tall evergreen trees; a desire to give his children an echo of his own upbringing. Their home was often a gathering place, a wilderness playground, and occasionally the first place family immigrating to the United States would call home.
After retirement, with a desire for the warmth of the sun, he split his time between Washington and Florida before fully moving to Winter Garden in 2023. There, he spent his days playing poker with friends, taking strolls around his favorite store, Costco, and staying connected with family and friends through phone calls and the many emails he would send.
Ata is survived by his wife Susan; children Sarah, Lisa, and Alex; grandchildren Atticus and Smith; brother Nuri; his dear cousin Jalal; and a large extended family of cousins, nieces, nephews, and many more.
A memorial service will be held at a later date to celebrate his life, with details to follow.
In lieu of flowers, his lasting wish was that we share joy and spend more time with one another.
“He leaves behind a legacy of integrity, humor, and love.”