Dr. Kevork P. Keshishian
Beylan, 1931 – Los Angeles, 2018
Benefactor Kevork P. Keshishian was born in Beylan on 24 August 1931.
In 1939, during the evacuation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, the eight-year-old child came with his family to settle in Aleppo, where he received his primary education, within the Armenian milieu of Aleppo at the time, attending the Krtasirats School. He received his secondary education at the French Lycee of Aleppo.
From a young age, Keshishian became a member of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) in Aleppo, and in 1945, at just 14 years old, he became one of the founders of the AGBU Student Union of Aleppo.
In 1950 he came to Beirut and received his higher education from the Medical Faculty of the French University of Saint Joseph.
THE UNIONIST
During his university years, Keshishian’s unionist enthusiasm drove him to become part of the AGBU University Student Union in Beirut, which had been founded in 1943 by another ADL benefactor, Dr. Noubar Berberian, with whom Keshishian would later work for many years.
For a period, Keshishian became the chairman of the University Student Union, carrying out active work within the Zareh Noubar Club of Beirut.
After completing his medical studies in 1958, he entered the arena of life, opening his private practice as a pediatrician in the well-known Hajin district of Beirut.
As the author of medical-educational works, Dr. Keshishian’s first publication was the book “Sexual Harmony in Marriage,” published in 1958, which was highly appreciated and reprinted. His second work was the book “Puberty and Sexual Questions,” which saw the light in Beirut in 1960, again earning a reprint.
Benefactor Keshishian’s unionist activity had already become conspicuous within a short time, and in 1961 he became part of the Executive Body of the AGBU Zareh Noubar Club. During this period, the AGBU’s cultural ferment in Beirut contributed to the rise of the Lebanese-Armenian community with performances by the well-known “Vahram Papazian” theater troupe and the “Andranik” song and dance ensemble. Keshishian became a member of the AGBU Central Board and was entrusted with touring the Middle Eastern communities as a speaker and organizer of new chapters.
During this period, he met the companion of his life, Cecil Simonian, who was the leader of the AGBU Arenoush group in Beirut. They were blessed with a son, Alek, and a daughter, Aline, who would later become familiar faces in the American film world.
THE PUBLICIST
Keshishian’s journalistic activity began in Beirut by joining the editorial staff of the “Spyurk” weekly, as well as the editorial staff of the AGBU’s official organ “Khosnak,” published in Beirut.
Alongside his medical career, he became a member of the Lebanese Armenian Medical Union, becoming its secretary and contributing to the union’s “Pishish” (Doctor) monthly. For a period, he also assumed medical responsibility at the AGBU’s infirmary in the Khalil Batawi district.
Before the end of 1968, Dr. Keshishian moved with his family to the United States, settling in the Boston area. He pursued the field of radiology at New England and Taft universities as his medical specialty.
From 1970, settling in Manchester, New Hampshire, he worked as a radiology specialist for about three decades.
During his time in Boston, he brought his unionist participation to the community life of the Armenian-populated town of Watertown. In 1969, he became the founder of the AGBU Youth Chapter of Boston. It should be noted that this chapter would serve with active work in the following decades.
In 1970, his two other works saw the light in Beirut: “Love and Family” and “How to Raise a Child.” As a physician in the Middle East, Keshishian became known as the Armenian Dr. Spock.
Enthused by the activity of the Armenian Medical Union of Beirut, Keshishian sought out well-known Armenian physicians living in Boston, with whom he became, in 1970, the founder and first chairman of the Armenian Medical Union of America. It should be noted that a decade later, another union of Armenian physicians would also be formed in California.
After settling in the United States, Dr. Keshishian, with his enthusiastic participation in Armenian-American community life, as well as his public speaking, had become a sought-after leader. His ideological inclination toward the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party had driven him to assume responsible positions. At the 1979 AGBU Delegates’ Assembly of the United States and Canada, Dr. Keshishian was elected a member of the Union’s Central Board, and the following year, in 1980, he became a member of the AGBU Central Board of Directors, a membership he would maintain for the next 18 years, working closely with President Alek Manoogian. And he never withheld his journalistic contribution to the ADL press — the “Baykar” weekly, as well as “Zartonk” and “Nor Or.”
Certainly, Keshishian the benefactor’s spouse, Cecil, was also in a leadership position when she was elected a member of the AGBU Central Board of America, whose chairman was Keshishian’s brother-in-law, Vartkes Balian.
In 1987, at the ADL Regional Delegates’ Assembly of Eastern America and Canada held in Toronto, Dr. Keshishian was elected chairman of the Regional Board, and the following year he became chairman of the AGBU Central Board of the United States and Canada — a position he would ably hold for the next eight years. As chairman of the AGBU Central Board, he toured the various communities of North America. Active work was carried out in the chapters during his chairmanship. Notable was his initiative in forming the AGBU “Press Foundation,” whose honorary presidency was assumed by the nationally known philanthropist Suren Fesjian. This foundation was created to support the Ramgavar official organs. Within a short time, the foundation reached annual revenues of $650,000.
Beyond his contribution to the national-community life of the Armenian-American colony, Dr. Keshishian was also honored with the American “Ellis Island” medal for his contribution to the community.
In 1995, in Cyprus, he was elected a member of the ADL Central Board at the party’s 19th General Delegates’ Assembly.
In 1998, Dr. Keshishian retired from his medical position. He first moved to Maryland, and two years later, before the end of 2000, he finally came to settle in Los Angeles with his spouse, where his children had already established residence.
The benefactor continued his community activity within the Western region of America and headed the “Nor Or” Friends Circle committee, contributing to the prosperity of the weekly. In 2004, he resigned from the AGBU Central Board, after having unreservedly brought his active participation for some 25 years.
Keshishian’s public-speaking contribution in Los Angeles became notable on two different occasions, when the author of these lines, as chairman of the ADL Western Region’s Regional Board, invited him to speak at the jubilee events of ADL benefactors Hrach Yervant and Gersam Aharonian.
The benefactor also served as a catalyst for the formation of the “Nor Or” benevolent foundation.
In 2013, Dr. Keshishian and his spouse, Cecil, initiated the 90th anniversary event of “Nor Or,” securing a sum of more than $120,000 for the weekly.
In Los Angeles, Keshishian the benefactor had sought out the unionist and intellectual friends of his youth, with whom he often spent his free and social hours.
But all that would come to an end when, in 2015, he would take to his bed, and three years later, on 16 November 2018, he would close his eyes forever at the age of 87, leaving behind a rich legacy of unionist and community life.
Ara Aharonian
