Ugo Giachery, born and educated in Palermo, Sicily, pursued
a widely varied course of studies, receiving from the Royal University of
Palermo a doctorate in chemistry, in which subject he engaged in teaching and
research and published a number of papers. He served with distinction in the
First World War. After living in the United States for some years, he and &
wife returned to Italy in 1947 as pioneer teachers of the Baha'i Faith. From
then on his career was one of continuing distinguished services.
In 1948 Dr. Ugo Giachery was appointed by Shoghi Effendi,
the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, as his personal representative for all the
work in Italy associated with the erection of the superstructure of the Shrine
of the Bab on Mr. Carmel. It was this service which brought him the immortal
honour of having the south-western door of the original Shrine named after him
as 'Bab-i-Giachery'. In 1951 Shoghi Effendi appointed Dr. Giachery Hand of the
Cause of God, and in 1952 'Member at Large' of the international Baha'i
Council, the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice. In 1953 he became
chairman of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Italy and Switzerland.
Dr. Giachery was the Guardian's 'special representative' at
the Intercontinental Conferences in Stockholm in 1953 and Chicago in 1958, and
for a number of years was Baha'i Observer to the Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations in Geneva. He also translated Baha'i literature into Italian
and is the author of several articles on the Baha'i Faith. In 1954, work began
on the Baha'i International Archives building on Mt. Carmel, and once again Dr.
Giachery became the Guardian's personal representative in Italy. The completion
of the building in I957 brought much satisfaction to Shoghi Effendi in the last
months of his life.
(Source: Back cover of the book ‘Shoghi Effendi, Recollections by
Ugo Giachery’)
