Richard G. Hovannisian was a titan in the field of Armenian Studies – an academic discipline that he shaped with his groundbreaking scholarship and professionalism. He passed away this week, at the age of 90, leaving behind a legacy that is impossible to capture.

He lived the life of a public intellectual. He became a historian with a mission – to promote the study of the Armenian Genocide as a consequential 20th century event. His research and publications cemented the place of the first Republic of Armenia in Armenian history and world history. Yet, he never lost sight of his two other responsibilities, teaching and community building. He was a professor who shaped multiple generations’ ideas and outlook on what it means to be Armenian. He and his life partner, Dr. Vartiter Kotcholosian Hovannisian, were an unrelenting, resolute presence in the developing Armenian-American community of Southern California – which always included the California Central Valley where his genocide survivor father settled.

His name has been omnipresent in academia for nearly seven decades, making space for Armenian scholars at institutions once out of reach. Hovannisian’s time at the University of California Los Angeles birthed new scholars through the graduate program he founded in Armenian history. Hovannisian also provided opportunities for students of all disciplines to have hands-on experience collecting, transcribing, and translating the invaluable oral histories of Armenian Genocide survivors. In recent years, he was also a presence at the University of Southern California, after entrusting his large collection of oral history interviews to the university for preservation and public access. The interviews were among the first to be conducted with genocide survivors.

Richard G. Hovannisian’s scholarship, mentorship, publications, and community building have touched the lives and trajectories of innumerable people, including every member of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies.

Our sincere condolences to his family, peers, friends, students, and the Armenian Studies community worldwide for this enormous loss.

Memorial Comment from the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem

The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem mourns deeply the passing of Prof. Richard G. Hovanissian. In our judgment he was the pre-eminent scholar of the Armenian Genocide in the world and an outstanding leader of the Armenian people, and on a personal level was a kind and genuinely friendly person with whom it was a pleasure to collaborate.

We first met on the occasion of Prof. Hovanissian’s participation in the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv in 1982, and continued in a warm relationship ever since. Following the conference, which we were told was the first occasion ever that the Armenian Genocide was recognized at an international academic conference, he hosted a luncheon at the UCLA Faculty Club honoring me as the organizer and chair of the conference together with his colleague at UCLA, Prof. Leo Kuper, who in my judgment was the outstanding scholar of comparative genocide in the world and who had also played a significant role in the conference. He then edited a book on the conference contributions, The Armenian Genocide in Perspective and became an eminent member of the International Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem which we launched after the conference.

We- on a number of occasions also with his dear exceptional wife, Vart, a physician who volunteered many years in Armenia– met many times through the years in many places in the world including in Yerevan. Our last active collaboration a few years ago, when he was already ill, was his contribution of a chapter. “A Contemporary Armenian: Richard G. Hovanissian—The Armenian Genocide and Extreme Denial” to my book, Israel’s Failed Response to the Armenian Genocide”: Denial, State Deception, Truth Versus Politicization of History (the book has enjoyed several printings and will soon appear in an Armenian translation in Armenia).

With great affection and deep grief, we celebrate a great person and his enduring contributions to Armenian pride, scholarship, and development. -Prof. Israel W. Charny, Director, Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem