ACADEMIC and Baha'i administrator Peter Khan was born on November 12, 1936, in Bowral, NSW and died on July 15, 2011, in Brisbane.

ON THE surface, Peter Khan appeared like any other academic at the University of Queensland, but Baha'i members knew him as an inspirational man who used his strong intellect and oratory skills to help spread the faith.

His parents Fazel and Hukoomat (Bibi) Khan, migrants from Punjab in India, were raised Muslims but converted to the Baha'i Faith after migrating to Australia.

They passed their faith on to Peter, aged 11 when they converted, and to his sister Joy. Fazel and his children served at various times on the faith's National Spiritual Assembly, its governing body in Australia.

Founded in Iran in the mid-1800s, the Baha'i Faith teaches that there is one God, the great religions of the world have a common foundation, that humanity is one family and the time has come for its unification into a peaceful global society.

In 1961, Dr Khan was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly, a landmark at the time as he was the youngest member in the history of the institution.

In 1983 he was appointed to a Baha'i international advisory board at the faith's world headquarters in Israel.

Then, in 1987, Dr Khan became the first Australian elected to its nine-member supreme governing body, the Universal House of Justice, which is based in Haifa. It was a full-time position which required him to move to Israel.

He was re-elected five times and when he retired last year he had spent 23 uninterrupted years as a UHJ member.

During those years Dr Khan employed his intellectual, organisational and spiritual capacities, in consultation with fellow members, to oversee building and beautification projects on Mt Carmel in Haifa.

He also helped to guide the development of the faith's six million followers throughout the world and sought to protect Baha'is from persecution in the faith's Iranian birthplace.

A great orator, Dr Khan spoke around the world on the faith, often attracting large audiences, and introduced his presentations with Australian-flavoured humour.

Born in Bowral, NSW, he was an outstanding student at the local high school.

He went on to the University of Sydney, where he received the prestigious University Medal and gained degrees in science and engineering before obtaining his doctorate in 1963.

Three years later he married Janet Griffith (now Dr Janet Khan), also a Baha'i adherent.

Together, they authored the book Advancement of Women: A Baha'i Perspective, which discusses the Baha'i principle of the equality of women and men.

Dr Khan's research on high-frequency electronics led to a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship and a position at the University of Michigan, where he was appointed an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

Upon returning to Australia for sabbatical leave in 1975, Dr Khan undertook research at the University of New South Wales.

Then, from 1976 to 1983, he was an associate professor at the University of Queensland.

Dr Khan was a close follower of world events through the media and via his contacts with heads of state and other national leaders.

But as someone who grew up in Don Bradman's home town, he was also a keen follower of cricket and a lover of classical music.

His influence on the followers of his faith was underlined at his funeral in Brisbane, which drew mourners not just from throughout Australia, but from countries as far afield as Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Western Samoa and the United States.

At the request of the Universal House of Justice, memorial services have since also been held in Baha'i communities and at all seven Baha'i Houses of Worship throughout the world.

One of those temples included a distinctive building that has become a landmark in the hills above the northern beaches of Sydney, the construction of which Dr Khan helped supervise half a century earlier.

Dr Khan died after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Dr Janet Khan.

Originally published as Obituary: Peter Khan