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Founder Of Armenian Genocide Resource Center, Richard Kloian, Laid T

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  • Founder Of Armenian Genocide Resource Center, Richard Kloian, Laid T

    FOUNDER OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOURCE CENTER, RICHARD KLOIAN, LAID TO REST

    Asbarez
    May 11th, 2010

    SAN FRANCISCO-Richard Kloian, who established and directed the Armenian
    Genocide Resource Center, was laid to rest today in the presence of
    family and friends, at Rolling Hills Memorial Park in El Sobrante,
    California.

    Kloian, 73, passed away on May 1 after a massive stroke. Funeral
    services were conducted by Reverend Father Hovel Ohanyan of Oakland's
    St. Vartan church. Roxanne Makasdjian, Chairperson of the Bay Area
    Armenian National Committee, spoke about Kloian's major contribution
    to the work of organizations pursuing recognition of the Armenian
    Genocide, to the field of genocide studies and to the general public
    understanding of the Armenian Genocide.

    Raffi Momjian, Director of The Genocide Education Project, for which
    Kloian acted as advisor, read a few of the many comments sent by
    scholars expressing their remembrances about Richard. Israel Charny,
    Executive Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide
    in Jerusalem, wrote, "I consider him a GIANT on behalf of Armenian
    Genocide recognition and memory. His devotion to his work in enabling
    education and memory about the Armenian Genocide was immense."

    Dennis Papazian, Professor Emeritus (Retire) and founding director of
    the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
    wrote, "He was a man dedicated to the truth and willing to gather
    the evidence for all to see. He was a true gentleman, and hated no one.

    His only desire was to educate and enlighten. He believed that
    enlightened people would do the right thing. He had a positive
    outlook. He is irreplaceable. May he rest in peace and may his family
    be comforted."

    Below is a transcript of the funeral service remarks by Roxanne
    Makasdjian:

    It's hard for me to accept that I'm standing here this morning, to
    say goodbye to Richard. Richard was someone who you never wanted to
    believe would not be here one day. He was so much younger than his
    years, and he had such endless energy. Although on many occasions I
    wondered how his work would be carried on after him, I didn't really
    think this time would come.

    I met Richard almost immediately after I began volunteering for the
    Armenian National Committee when I moved here in the 1980's. He had
    just published his book, The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts from
    the American Press, 1915-1922. This was truly a landmark publication,
    because the collection of these New York Times and other articles was
    not only an useful reference book for researchers, but for groups like
    the ANC, it was then and still is the perfect public information tool
    to make the case for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Richard
    had done it all by himself, spending endless hours at UC Berkeley,
    going through pages and pages of newspaper microfilm.

    When we initiated a committee to help teachers include the Armenian
    Genocide in their coursework, all roads led to Richard Kloian, who
    had been a key resource for teachers for years. Getting to know him,
    I soon realized that he had an unstoppable passion and talent for
    bringing documentation about the Armenian Genocide to the broad
    public. I began getting a stream of e-mails from him, with the most
    interesting articles, reports, first-hand accounts. Sometimes, it came
    so fast and furiously, I had to stick them in a folder I called "stuff
    from Richard," until I could make time to film them all properly.

    Richard once told me how this passion of his first bloomed. It was
    when his father died in 1976. Richard discovered his father's diary,
    which told a harrowing tale of genocide survival. It was then that
    Richard's life work turned irreversibly to the Armenian Genocide.

    His new interest filled his evenings after work. Soon, his mission
    became a full-time volunteer effort, bringing to light this "forgotten
    history."

    By 1997, he had established the Armenian Genocide Resource Center.

    Through the AGRC, Richard has single-handedly collected a vast amount
    of documentation on the Armenian Genocide, helped get long-lost memoirs
    and documents published, and has developed many useful materials for
    helping locate and acquire historical and current works.

    He also found films about the Armenian Genocide from around the world
    and got permission to reproduce them for the general public. As many
    of you know, one of his most recent labors of love was restoring and
    editing the only surviving segment of the 1919 silent Hollywood film,
    Ravished Armenia.

    Richard's perseverance and drive were incomparable. His work was an
    everyday act of courage because each day, by himself, and without any
    compensation, he fought the powerful forces of "forgetting." Not only
    did his work fight historical revisionism, it served to enlighten
    educators and politicians alike, who encounter Turkey's denial of
    the Armenian Genocide regularly. His work has helped broaden the
    discussion of genocide studies, because so many non-Armenians sought
    out his materials and his vast knowledge of historical resources.

    But to characterize Richard only in terms of his contributions to
    Armenian Genocide education would not give the true picture. Born
    and raised in Detroit, Michigan, one of 5 brothers, Richard, whose
    Armenian name was Diran, was an extraordinary Renaissance man. He had
    an avid interest in science, in music, in photography. He was an active
    member of the Astronomical Society in Detroit, where he organized
    public events and where he built his first deep space telescope with
    Dr. Donaldson Craig of Wayne State University. He studied French and
    comparative literature, and as an accomplished photographer, he was
    among the first in Detroit to capture on film the early phases of
    growth that revolutionized the Detroit skyline. And as a professional
    musician, he played in Detroit's Latin and jazz orchestras. I'm told
    it was while playing music that he met his wife of 42 years, Antonia,
    and we all owe such a debt of gratitude that Antonia gave Richard
    the space to pursue his passion and give so much to the world.

    The list of his accomplishments is so impressive, yet what I keep
    thinking about is Richard's sweet and gentle demeanor, his genuine
    kindness, and his pleasing smile. Thank you, Richard, for brightening
    and enriching our lives, for teaching us, for showing us the way.
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