Professor Richard G. Hovannisian passed away on July 10, in Los Angeles, at the age of 90.
Dr. Hovannisian was a world-renowned historian, a national academician of the Republic of Armenia, the founder and first holder of the Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA, later named in his honor, and author of the monumental four-volume work The Republic of Armenia and multiple books on the Armenian Genocide and the historical homeland of the Armenian people.
Hovannisan was born and raised in Tulare, near Fresno, California, in a family of Armenian Genocide survivors.
Hovannisian received his B.A. in history (1954) from the University of California, Berkeley, and his M.A. in history (1958) and his Ph.D. (1966) from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
His son, Raffi Hovannisian, was the first Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia.
Oragark, the official publication of the ARF Western U.S.A, honors the memory of Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, a pioneer of Armenian studies in American academia whose immeasurable contributions to the study of Armenian history and the Armenian Genocide has shaped the understanding of our nation’s history and culture over generations.
