Later Years and Death
After decades of service in the Ministry of Finance and later in the Iranian-British Oil Company—where he directed the translation and purchasing departments—Hayim retired in the mid-1930s. Retirement, however, did not slow him down. On the contrary, it offered him the freedom to focus more deeply on his lexicographical and literary endeavors.
Hayim died on 15 February 1969 in Tehran of a heart attack at the age of 82. His passing marked the end of a remarkable era in Iranian intellectual history. Despite his profound contributions, public awareness of his life remained limited for many years. As critic and translator Karim Emami lamented, even the dictionaries Hayim had authored provided little information about his life.
In the late 1990s, decades after his death, a group of Iranian Jewish intellectuals and admirers organized a memorial event in his honor outside of Iran. Their efforts, along with the documentation found in Iranian Jews in Contemporary History (edited by Homa Sarshar), helped illuminate the full range of Hayim’s contributions for a new generation.
Legacy and Recognition
Suleiman Hayim remains a foundational figure in the fields of bilingual education and translation in Iran. His dictionaries were used by generations of students, translators, scholars, and government officials, playing a vital role in bridging Iran with the English-speaking world during an era of dramatic cultural and political transformation.