Dubai: To many people he was just the friendly owner of one of the oldest Iranian restaurants in Dubai, Special Ostadi.

But to others, he was like a father.

Mohammad Ali Ansari, 83, passed away on Monday at 9.30pm at MRI Hospital (Shiraz Central Hospital) in Shiraz in Iran, and is survived by his wife, Fatima, 75, and his children, Sangean, 58; Ali, 55; Majid, 48; Samira, 47; Omaira, 46; Talib, 45; and Abbas, 38.

Ansari came to the country in 1941 on a dhow, when he was just nine years old. Years later, his Ostadi Special restaurant became one of the more popular eateries on Al Musallah Road in Bur Dubai, a favourite of Emiratis for its Iranian yoghurt kebabs.

Abbas, his youngest son, recalled the man his father was.

“We have all flown to Iran for the funeral. He was a great man and a great father. In his last days he was not eating well because he had some kidney problems and was admitted to the hospital on Saturday and was put on glucose drips and, on the day he died, he suffered four heart attacks,” he said.

He said that their village has some 40,000 people, “There must have been some 25,000 people at his funeral. He was loved and respected by many. I received some 100 calls from the UAE from Emiratis expressing their condolences; many Emiratis were close to him and to many he was like a father.”

Abbas said that there are two kinds of people in this world — people who want to get rich and people who want to help people. He said his dad was the latter.

“He was a generous man who has done so much for his city, Gerash. He was one of the people who funded a university there, paid tuition fees for students who could not afford it, and he also helped many people get married and helped others with burial and funeral fees not only in his city but also in cities such as Jahroom and Shiraz,” Abbas recalled.

Ansari also gave money to schools to improve their facilities and helped with the installation of lights in streets.

“At the funeral, one woman approached me and told me that a friend of hers introduced her to my father years ago when she was facing hard times, and she said he gave her money, which helped her get an education and changed her life,” Abbas said. “To me he was like an angel.”

He also treated his employees like children. “He would always tell us that ‘my employees are my children, then you are my children, they come first’,” Abbas said.

Farsheed Mohammad, 40, who worked at Special Ostadi for more than 20 years, said in broken Arabic and English that Ansari was like a father to him. The language barrier prevented Mohammad from putting his grief in words but his face conveyed the loss he has suffered.