Davood Shayesteh Kheslat; The Worthy Man of the Printing Industry

Saeed Kalari, an activist in the printing industry, wrote following the passing of the late Davood Shayesteh Kheslat: “At your threshold, the heart is trampled by a hundred pains / See what your hand of grief has brought upon my head.” In mourning a legendary master, a legend that had the color of truth. Legends are fictional stories of humans’ supernatural powers and impossible events. A place where humans like to imagine themselves in a form where achieving them is a sweet dream and a pleasurable, fascinating fantasy.

In the printing industry, however, there was no shortage of such legendary heroes like Davood Shayesteh Kheslat, who truly had a befitting name and possessed worthy and rare qualities, and was one of these legendary figures who existed from the heart of life’s realities.

Where, at the height of sanctions and without any help or guidance from foreign companies, we witnessed his legendary artistry combined with his sharp intelligence, demonstrating the skill of Iranians in installing and launching enormous and newly imported machinery that had no similar precedent in Iran, one of the state printing houses showed off to the world of industry and took on the color of reality. Or in another place, by pointing out an unknown flaw in one of the printing machines belonging to a well-known global company, he dictated his technical power and intelligence to foreign engineers and was honored by that factory.

These were just a few examples of the numerous technical and legendary artistic displays of Master Davood Shayesteh Kheslat, which of course only showed one aspect of his various qualities. Because he also excelled and was worthy in good human characteristics.

Good ethics and nature, noble character, humility, people skills, a supportive spirit, unsparing help to fellow humans, generosity in teaching, etc. From a technical perspective, according to the old workers of Offset Company during his presence there, it was considered a golden age for both the organization and the workers.

Personally, I witnessed his leadership power and high acceptance among workers and supervisors who carried out technical instructions without question. All these attributes were gathered in the personality of this great man and created a great name called “Davood Shayesteh Kheslat.”

I take pride and honor in having gleaned a little from his presence and his field of knowledge and that being his student is recorded in my work history.

The first time I saw him in 1992 at Offset Company, I was absorbed by his masculine presence and charisma, as he kindly and with fatherly affection taught me and other students who were attending Imam Sadegh Printing Conservatory. Later, during university, I also had the privilege of being his student and benefited sufficiently and abundantly.

If Imam Sadegh Printing Conservatory still stands today, a large part of it owes to his all-around support for the conservatory. If Offset Company has a name and reputation, part of it owes to him.

The significant impact of his efforts on increasing the technical quality of the printing university cannot be overlooked. If the union ever held training classes, it was Davood Shayesteh Kheslat who took the initiative.

He was one of the first people to play an effective role in standardization in the printing industry. Throughout his blessed life, he provided more than thousands of small and large services to the printing industry and its development.

The loss of this legendary, unique, and unparalleled figure is a great loss for the country’s printing industry, one that surely cannot be replaced. I offer my condolences to the community of the country’s printing industry for this immense tragedy and pray for his soul to find peace and divine forgiveness from God.