Varoujan Khachadourian
(1924, Latakia – 2012, Glendale)
The esteemed Varoujan Khachadourian was born in the coastal Syrian city of Latakia, on 24 April 1924, under the modest roof of Artin and Tshkhun Khachadourian, who had been displaced from Hadjin after the evacuation of Cilicia. At a young age he lost his father and came under the care of his maternal uncles, who were from the well-known Kostanian family of Hadjin and had also come to Latakia.
This coastal city had become the first stop for the Cilicians, where a small community had begun to organise itself, with its own elementary school. There was also a branch of the A.G.B.U. there, made up of union members who had settled from Alexandretta.
Varoujan, along with his peers, attended the local Hagopian elementary school. His interest in union life from an early age drove him to become a member of the local Benevolent (A.G.B.U.) branch as a junior member, which his schoolmates of the same age had also begun to attend.
In 1939, to continue his secondary education, he left for Cyprus to enter the Melkonian Educational Institution, where his elder brother, Aram, had gone a year earlier.
At Melkonian, he focused his interest more on the commercial courses. As a Benevolent institution, the athletic and Aryan movements operating within Melkonian kept the student body in an enthusiastic atmosphere, especially during the period of the Second World War, and Varoujan was not left out of that enthusiasm; he accepted to take part in the Aryan group, becoming one of the leaders of the Aryan movement.
During that time, the Khachadourian family’s relatives had already moved from Latakia and settled in Lebanon. Varoujan, after completing the Melkonian Institution in 1944, came to Beirut to join his relatives. To master his preferred commercial field, he worked for about a year at the Archer establishment.
In 1945, together with his brother Aram, he founded the Khachadourian Trading Company in Beirut. The Khachadourian brothers undertook large-scale exports of clothing, and their commercial establishment achieved great success in a short time. The company exported to almost all the neighbouring Arab countries.
Varoujan, as a unionist, took part in the activities of the A.G.U. in Beirut. By ideological conviction, in 1945 he joined the ranks of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, uniting with the young rank-and-file members of his generation, many of whom had been his schoolmates at Melkonian. Gradually expanding his national and social activity, with his enthusiastic participation he also became part of the local administrative bodies of the Benevolent, of which he had been a member since his youth in Latakia.
The commercial establishment of the brothers Aram and Varoujan Khachadourian had begun to forge brilliant success. During frequent business trips aimed at further developing their activity, Varoujan did not miss the opportunity to become acquainted with the national and social ferment unfolding in the communities of the Middle Eastern countries.
Varoujan and his brother Aram also contributed with their unconditional support to the programmes undertaken by the Tekeyan Cultural Association in Beirut. Aram became a member of the board of trustees of the Vahan Tekeyan School in Beirut for many years.
In 1957, Varoujan chose Seda Meymaryan as his life partner, and they were blessed with two sons, Vigen and Sevak, and a daughter, Maral. Seda, for her part, with her diligent participation in Beirut, was for many years part of and served the work of the women’s union bodies.
The Khachadourian couple sent their three children to the Benevolent schools of Beirut, where they grew up in an Armenian environment and followed the example of their parents.
The esteemed figure’s social life became more established when he became part of the leadership of the ADL’s Lebanese region and worked closely with the members of the T.C.A. Founders’ Body, the ADL’s esteemed Prof. Barunak Tovmasyan, Metr Hrachya Sedrakyan, Gersam Aharonian, Hagop Davitian and Haykashen Uzunian.
The responsible positions Varoujan undertook in Beirut led him to also become part of the Central Board of the A.G.U. in 1972. During this period, in the western part of Beirut, the “Alef Manougian” cultural centre had already been opened, where the A.G.B.U.’s Lebanese Regional Committee operated, with its educational committee. In 1968, Varoujan and his brother Aram had also been awarded the A.G.B.U. school diploma.
In 1975, Lebanon’s fratricidal civil clashes began, and the once socially vibrant ferment of the Lebanese-Armenian community diminished, finding itself before an uncertain situation.
In those days, Khachadourian was entrusted with the chairmanship of the ADL’s Lebanese Regional Board. His first duty was to ensure the participation of the ADL’s region in Beirut’s inter-communal and party body. As chairman, he frequently came into contact with the neighbouring Arab countries, especially with the small but wealthy community of the Persian Gulf, something that made it possible to secure tangible assistance for the Lebanese-Armenian community through a delegation sent by the ADL’s Lebanese Regional Board. After completing the Regional Board’s two-year term, Khachadourian joined the ranks of the ADL Central Board in 1977, and in that capacity was sent to various ADL regions (1977-82).
The T.C.A. Founders’ Body, which had lost three of its members, was filled with new members in 1986, among whom was the esteemed figure. With his enthusiastic participation, he supported and made a great contribution to the T.C.A.’s new programmes. He remained in this social office for about 12 years.
In 1998, Khachadourian, together with his spouse, permanently moved to Los Angeles, where his two sons had already gone years earlier to study and had settled in California.
In Los Angeles as well, despite his advanced age, the esteemed figure showed the same energetic and consistent interest, closely following and taking part in the ferment of local social life.
The esteemed figure, after a brief illness, closed his eyes in Glendale in December 2012.
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Khachadourian’s brother’s son, Nary, and his son-in-law, Dr. Hovig Vartanian, are members of the T.C.A. Founders’ Body in Beirut.
Ara Aharonian
