Firuzeh Khorasanizadeh died on January 17, 2020, a few months after her 58th birthday, at Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, MA. Firuzeh was born in Iran and came to Worcester, Massachusetts in August 1978, as a student at Worcester Academy. After high school graduation, she spent a year at Clark University before transferring to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in applied mathematics. Soon after moving to Michigan she married Kourosh Danai, whom she had met during summer vacations on the Caspian Sea. After receiving their degrees they moved to Amherst in 1987 with their year-old son, Amin, where they have made home ever since. Their daughter Afra Mehr was born in 1992.

Firuzeh worked at MassMutual as an actuarial analyst, at UMass Medical as a data analyst in public health, at UMass Amherst in various capacities, and as a high school math teacher in Springfield public schools. She enjoyed working but she was a caretaker at heart, and her children and family always came first.

Firuzeh loved swimming and hiking. She logged countless laps in the Hampshire Athletic Club pool in Amherst and was happiest when she was swimming in the ocean off the Cape Cod National Seashore or in one of the kettle ponds on the Cape. She started many of her mornings with walks in the Amethyst Brook Conservation Area. Firuzeh also learned to play bridge in her final years. But more than anything she loved her golden retriever, Asal, who was her constant companion for the last 10 years of her life and was at her side to the end in the Fisher Home.

Firuzeh is survived by her husband of 38 years, Kourosh Danai, her children, Amin and Afra Mehr, her daughter-in-law, Laura, her mother, Fatemeh Sadeghi, her siblings, Farzin, Sepideh, and Sadaf, and their families. Calling hours will be at Douglass Funeral Home in Amherst from 11-12:30 on Tuesday January 21 followed by a reception at Inn on Boltwood from 12:30-2:30. The burial will be private. A memorial will be held at a future date.