Faruk Zia is the eldest of the seven siblings, born to Mohammad Ziauddin Qureshi from Agra, India and Nasim Zia, Ajmair India.  His family emigrated to Pakistan in 1947.  He was born in 1960 in Nazimabad Karachi.  Faruk completed 4th grade in Karachi in Urdu medium school.  His parents emigrated to Toronto Canada when he was about ten years old.  After graduating from Thornlea High in Thornhill, Ontario he moved to California and obtained his degrees in Economics and Accounting from University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit University.  He also passed the Certified Public Accountant's exam from State Board of California.  After a short time in public accounting he pursued a career in industry.  He gained experience and expertise in taking over troubled companies and gained experience in turnaround.  He was a co-owner of an industrial products company that merged with a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal in 1998.  He became one of the Directors of the merged companies.  In 2001 Faruk took control of Angeles Steel in Santa Fe Springs, CA a company that was established more than 72 years ago.

        Faruk admits that success doesn't come easily.  As he wrote this brief resume, he realized his journey was not a bed of roses.  While he didn't come to this country with only ten dollars in his pocket like many other successful and esteemed immigrants including those from Pakistan and India, his father did.  Faruk learned lessons of sacrifice early in his life.  His father gave up a comfortable and relatively easy life in Karachi in the 60's for the betterment of his children.  After migrating to a new country where a Pakistani community or Islamic education didn't exist then, his father started a new life by working 12 hours a day, seven days a week as a security guard and his mother worked night shifts as a sewing machine operator in Toronto for hourly wages that were below $2.00 an hour.  Faruk was the eldest so he took care of his siblings at many times.  In business, things didn't come easy nor did success come overnight.  While he did reach some pinnacles of success in relative terms, so did the sudden demise of the same success that took him near the mouth of difficult times and tough choices.  Faruk attributes his rebound to the love and faith of his parents and strong support of his wife Yasmeen who has been tolerating him for over 21 years.  Ultimately things bounced back and the hidayat of his mother proved her words.  As a teenager in high school, Faruk describes himself as a "goof off".  His father reminded him why they sacrificed and left their homeland and his mother taught him a valuable lesson that anyone can take your money and material things but no one can take your knowledge.  Those words led him to get back on track with his education.

        Faruk reads, writes and speaks fluent Urdu.  Early Urdu medium education lessons in Karachi still serve him well. Parent's emphasis on speaking Urdu at home also kept the language well and alive in his family.  Now Faruk's three teenage daughters and a son speak and understand Urdu and by learning Arabic at Orange Crescent School, some of them can read and write Urdu script as well.  Faruk believes that learning Urdu in America may not yield any direct economic benefit but Urdu language and the history of his native land is filled with powerful inspiration and values.  If those lessons can be revived and adopted, one can strengthen his/her character and apply them to all aspects of one's life.  A strong moral character can make the difference in excellence, and that strong character can lead one to higher echelons in life.  Urdu language and culture can indeed help.

 HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT THE URDU WRITERS SOCIETY:

Urdu Writer's Society is the effort of its founders to keep the language, culture and heritage of a civilization alive.  Other than social aspects, the knowledge, wisdom, etiquette, compassion, inspiration, summation of thoughts are values inherent in the Urdu language.  Efforts of Urdu Writers Society of today are akin to sowing the seeds...soon the the future generations will reap what's sown today.