North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) life member Assad Meymandi, MD, received the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor on Sept. 22 in Raleigh. Governor Pat McCrory presented Dr. Meymandi with the award for his contributions in the fine arts.
Dr. Meymandi, 82, a psychiatrist who has been an NCMS member since 1967, has helped transform Raleigh into a center for art, music, literature and learning. He funded the concert hall that serves the North Carolina Symphony and bears his mother’s name. At the North Carolina Museum of Art, he established the Meymandi Exhibition Center, the museum’s largest special exhibition space, named for his father. His one remaining dream is to build an opera house as a home for the N.C. Opera on the grounds of the former Dix Hospital where he began his career a half-century ago. He has also pledged funding toward converting this land into a city park.
In Iran, Dr. Meymandi has funded a symphony hall in addition to a school, a public library and new homes for those displaced by an earthquake. At the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, he has funded a fellowship to integrate study of the humanities with science that brings together the think tank leaders in the arts and sciences. He is in the process of endowing the Chair of “Ideas and Curiosity” at UNC-Chapel Hill. At St. Mary’s School, he has sponsored music programs and at Cherry Hill in Warren County, an annual concert.
Congratulations, Dr. Meymandi!
