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Pasadena Star-News, CA
Jan 22 2005
Sarafian, noted historian, dies at 62
By Gretchen Hoffman , Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- Winston L. Sarafian, a noted scholar of
Russian-American history and Pasadena native, died Jan. 8 from a
heart attack at his Los Angeles home. He was 62.
Sarafian was the eldest son of the late Armen Sarafian, who was a
member of the state Board of Education and a president of Pasadena
City College and the University of La Verne.
Sarafian grew up in Pasadena and attended Webster Elementary School,
Marshall Junior High School and Pasadena High School before getting
his B.A. from Cal State Los Angeles. He received a master's degree in
library science from Cal State Fullerton and a master's degree in
history from Cal State L.A and earned his Ph.D. in Russian history
from UCLA.
He taught at Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and Riverside Community
College and was one of the first employees at Oxnard College, where
he worked for 30 years until his death.
"He really loved to be in the classroom,' said George Keeler, his
first cousin. "He came from a family of true educators, and he found
his true passion as a teacher.'
He was a pre-eminent researcher of the employee policies and
practices of the Russian American Trading Company, 1799-1867, in
northern Alaska. He translated more than 10,000 handwritten Russian
documents and wrote many journal articles revealing the fur trading
company's effects on the environment and indigenous peoples.
Sarafian is credited with establishing and cataloging, over a
three-year period starting in 1981, a collection of more than 12,500
Armenian books and periodicals for the then-newly founded American
Armenian International College at the University of La Verne. Most of
the books were acquired from Armenia.
"He taught himself to read Armenian so he could catalog those books,'
Keeler said. "He was a walking textbook.'
He liked working on cars, was interested in parapsychology and he had
the ability to analyze a current event and predict its effect years
into the future, Keeler said.
"Winston was the fun one in the family,' Keeler said. "He was
somewhat eccentric, somewhat quirky. He loved to live in the past but
also the present at the same time.
"He was unleashed and not politically correct about what he was
saying. He would go outside the boundaries of stuffy science.'
Services were held Thursday in Inglewood.
Sarafian is survived by his wife, Gioula, and son, Avak, of Los
Angeles; mother, Doris Sarafian of Reedley; brother, Norman Sarafian,
of La Canada Flintridge; and sister, Joy Sarafian of Duarte.
Jan 22 2005
Sarafian, noted historian, dies at 62
By Gretchen Hoffman , Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- Winston L. Sarafian, a noted scholar of
Russian-American history and Pasadena native, died Jan. 8 from a
heart attack at his Los Angeles home. He was 62.
Sarafian was the eldest son of the late Armen Sarafian, who was a
member of the state Board of Education and a president of Pasadena
City College and the University of La Verne.
Sarafian grew up in Pasadena and attended Webster Elementary School,
Marshall Junior High School and Pasadena High School before getting
his B.A. from Cal State Los Angeles. He received a master's degree in
library science from Cal State Fullerton and a master's degree in
history from Cal State L.A and earned his Ph.D. in Russian history
from UCLA.
He taught at Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and Riverside Community
College and was one of the first employees at Oxnard College, where
he worked for 30 years until his death.
"He really loved to be in the classroom,' said George Keeler, his
first cousin. "He came from a family of true educators, and he found
his true passion as a teacher.'
He was a pre-eminent researcher of the employee policies and
practices of the Russian American Trading Company, 1799-1867, in
northern Alaska. He translated more than 10,000 handwritten Russian
documents and wrote many journal articles revealing the fur trading
company's effects on the environment and indigenous peoples.
Sarafian is credited with establishing and cataloging, over a
three-year period starting in 1981, a collection of more than 12,500
Armenian books and periodicals for the then-newly founded American
Armenian International College at the University of La Verne. Most of
the books were acquired from Armenia.
"He taught himself to read Armenian so he could catalog those books,'
Keeler said. "He was a walking textbook.'
He liked working on cars, was interested in parapsychology and he had
the ability to analyze a current event and predict its effect years
into the future, Keeler said.
"Winston was the fun one in the family,' Keeler said. "He was
somewhat eccentric, somewhat quirky. He loved to live in the past but
also the present at the same time.
"He was unleashed and not politically correct about what he was
saying. He would go outside the boundaries of stuffy science.'
Services were held Thursday in Inglewood.
Sarafian is survived by his wife, Gioula, and son, Avak, of Los
Angeles; mother, Doris Sarafian of Reedley; brother, Norman Sarafian,
of La Canada Flintridge; and sister, Joy Sarafian of Duarte.