Some were born in Fresno or Somerville. Others arrived as refugees, soldiers or exiles. This chapter profiles the Armenians whose lives in the United States shaped American culture and Armenian history, starting with three towering figures: the writer William Saroyan, the builder of modern Las Vegas, Kirk Kerkorian, and the Detroit industrialist Alex Manoogian. The generals Andranik, Dro and Nzhdeh now have their own page, Historical Armenian Heroes in the USA.
William Saroyan
Novelist, playwright, screenwriter, short-story writerWilliam Saroyan was born in Fresno on August 31, 1908, to Armenak and Takuhi Saroyan, immigrants from Bitlis in the Ottoman Empire. When he was three, his father died, and William and his siblings were placed in an orphanage in Oakland. Five years later, the family was reunited in Fresno, where his mother worked in a cannery. Largely self-educated, he supported himself with odd jobs, including as an office manager for the San Francisco Telegraph Company.[1]
His breakthrough came in 1934 with the story collection The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze. A remarkable run followed: The Armenian and the Armenian (1935), My Heart's in the Highlands and The Time of Your Life (both 1939), My Name Is Aram (1940) and The Human Comedy (1943). Much of his work is set among Armenian immigrant families in Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley, which made their lives part of mainstream American literature.[1]
The Time of Your Life won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which Saroyan famously declined. In 1943 he won the Academy Award for Best Story for The Human Comedy. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Astoria, Queens, and in London.[1]
Life in America
- 1908Born in Fresno, California, to immigrants from Bitlis
- c. 1911–16Lives in an Oakland orphanage after his father's death
- 1934The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze makes him famous
- 1940Declines the Pulitzer Prize for The Time of Your Life
- 1943Academy Award, Best Story, The Human Comedy
- 1942–45Serves in the U.S. Army during World War II
- 1981Dies in Fresno on May 18. Half his ashes rest at Fresno's Ararat Cemetery, half in the Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan.[1]
The division of Saroyan's ashes between Fresno and Yerevan is a fitting symbol of this whole history: a life fully American and fully Armenian.
Kirk Kerkorian
Businessman, investor and philanthropist, "father of the megaresort"Kerkor "Kirk" Kerkorian was born in Fresno on June 6, 1917, to Armenian immigrant parents. He left school after the eighth grade, learned to fly and, during World War II, ferried aircraft for the Royal Air Force's Ferry Command. After the war he built his first fortune in aviation with Trans International Airlines, which flew gamblers to Las Vegas.[2]
Kerkorian did not invent the Las Vegas casino industry, but he did more than almost anyone to transform it. Working with architect Martin Stern Jr., he built the world's largest hotel in Las Vegas three times, which earned him the title "father of the megaresort."[2,3]
- The International Hotel (1969). The $80 million resort was the largest hotel in the country when it opened in July 1969.[3] Its first headliners were Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley, whose record-breaking engagement began a residency that became one of the defining chapters of Las Vegas entertainment.[2]
- The original MGM Grand (1973). Again the largest hotel in the world at its opening.[2]
- The present MGM Grand (1993). Opened on December 18, 1993, with more than 5,000 rooms and the world's largest casino at the time.[4,5]
Kerkorian also shaped Hollywood. He bought control of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio in 1969, bought and sold it several times, and finally sold it to a Sony-led group in 2005. Bringing the MGM name to the Strip helped link Hollywood glamour with the Las Vegas resort economy.[2]
Philanthropy
- 1988–89After the Spitak earthquake, he founds the Lincy Foundation, named for his daughters Linda and Tracy[2]
- 1989–2011Lincy gives more than $1 billion, including over $200 million for roads, tunnels, schools, housing, museums and theaters in Armenia[2,6]
- 1989–2015The United Armenian Fund, which he backed, delivers some $700 million in relief supplies on 158 airlifts[7]
- 2011Lincy's final $200 million goes to UCLA for medical research, scholarships and a national charity fund[2]
He famously refused to put his name on buildings, but few Armenian Americans left a larger mark on both of their homelands.
Alex Manoogian
Industrialist, founder of Masco, and philanthropistAlexander Manoogian was born on June 28, 1901, near Smyrna (Izmir) in the Ottoman Empire. His family escaped the Armenian Genocide in 1915. On May 20, 1920, at the age of 19, he came through Ellis Island alone with two suitcases and $50.[8,9] He worked as a machinist in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and briefly in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In 1924 he moved to Detroit, drawn by opportunities in the booming auto industry.[10]
In 1929, just before the Great Depression, he founded Masco Screw Products in Detroit, and the company kept growing through the 1930s.[10] In 1954 he brought to market the Delta single-handle faucet, a washerless ball-valve design that let people control hot and cold water with one hand. It became a best-selling plumbing fixture. By the mid-1990s Masco had $3 billion in sales and 38 percent of the U.S. faucet market.[8,10]
Philanthropy & honors
- 1966He and his wife Marie donate their home to the City of Detroit. The Manoogian Mansion is still the official residence of Detroit's mayor[10,8]
- 1968Creates the AGBU Alex and Marie Manoogian Cultural Fund with a $1 million endowment for Armenian scholarship and literature[8]
- 1970Elected Life President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (Honorary Life President from 1989)[8]
- LifetimeGives more than $90 million to charities and schools, including AGBU Manoogian schools in 11 cities from Southfield, Michigan, and Los Angeles to Beirut and Buenos Aires[10,8]
- 1990Receives the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Wayne State University later names Manoogian Hall after him[10]
- 2007He and Marie are reburied with state honors at Holy Etchmiadzin in Armenia[8]
He arrived with almost nothing and built one of America's major home-products manufacturers. His story is one of the clearest examples of the Armenian American immigrant path from refugee to industrialist.
ProfilesArts, Letters & Music
PaintingArshile Gorky
c. 1904 – 1948A genocide survivor from Khorgom near Van, he arrived in the U.S. in 1920 as a teenager and spent four years with relatives in Watertown, Massachusetts, before moving to New York.[11,12] He taught in Boston and New York, was one of the first artists hired by the WPA Federal Art Project in 1935, and became a founding influence on Abstract Expressionism.[13]
Stage & FilmRouben Mamoulian
1897 – 1987Came to Rochester in 1923 and became a U.S. citizen in 1930. He directed the original Broadway Porgy and Bess (1935), Oklahoma! (1943) and Carousel (1945), as well as Becky Sharp, the first three-strip Technicolor feature.[14]
MusicAlan Hovhaness
1911 – 2000Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, he was organist at St. James Armenian Church in Watertown and composed 67 numbered symphonies, including Mysterious Mountain, across 434 opus numbers.[15]
Music & FilmCher
b. 1946Singer and Academy Award-winning actress of Armenian descent, with a career spanning more than six decades.[16]
Music & ActivismSerj Tankian & Shavo Odadjian
System of a Down, formed 1994Singer Serj Tankian and bassist Shavo Odadjian co-founded System of a Down in Glendale with Daron Malakian; John Dolmayan later joined on drums. The all-Armenian American band became one of the most successful metal acts of its era and a leading voice for genocide recognition.[17,16]
LiteraturePeter Balakian
b. 1951Poet, memoirist and Colgate University professor who won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Ozone Journal, whose title sequence reflects on excavating the remains of genocide victims.[18]
ProfilesScience & Invention
MedicineRaymond Damadian
1936 – 2022A New York-born physician who performed the first MRI body scan of a human on July 3, 1977, with his machine "Indomitable." He founded Fonar and received the National Medal of Technology in 1988.[19]
Nobel LaureateArdem Patapoutian
b. 1967A Beirut-born Armenian American neuroscientist who shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of receptors for touch and temperature.[16]
BiotechnologyNoubar Afeyan
b. 1962 · Cambridge–BostonFounder and CEO of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, life-sciences firm Flagship Pioneering and co-founder and chairman of Moderna, maker of one of the first authorized COVID-19 vaccines.[20,21]
InventionLuther Simjian
1905 – 1997A prolific inventor credited with an early version of the automated teller machine.[22]
ProfilesBusiness & Philanthropy
From Detroit factories and New Jersey subdivisions to Cape Cod storefronts and Los Angeles parking lots, Armenian immigrants and their children built some of America's best-known companies. Many then gave much of their wealth back to both of their homelands. Two of them, Kirk Kerkorian and Alex Manoogian, have full profiles above.
Casinos, Film & AviationKirk Kerkorian
1917 – 2015 · Fresno & Las VegasBuilder of the International Hotel and both MGM Grands, "father of the megaresort," and owner of the MGM studio. Read the full profile.[3,2]
ManufacturingAlex Manoogian
1901 – 1996 · DetroitGenocide survivor who founded the Masco Screw Products Company in Detroit in 1929 and launched the Delta single-handle faucet in 1954. Read the full profile.[10,8]
Manufacturing & ArtRichard Manoogian
b. 1936 · DetroitAlex Manoogian's son joined Masco in 1958, became its chief executive and chairman, and built it into a home-products giant through acquisitions. He and his wife Jane also assembled one of the country's leading collections of American painting.[23]
HomebuildingKevork Hovnanian
1923 – 2009 · New JerseyFounded Hovnanian Enterprises in 1959 with his brothers, starting with small New Jersey houses, and led it as president and CEO until 1997. Today K. Hovnanian Homes is a publicly traded national homebuilder based in Matawan, New Jersey.[24]
Real Estate & PhilanthropyHirair Hovnanian
1930 – 2021 · New JerseyBorn in Kirkuk, Iraq, he co-founded the family homebuilding business before founding his own firm, Hovsons, Inc. He was a founding benefactor of the Armenian Assembly of America and a major AGBU supporter.[24,25]
RetailStephen P. Mugar
1901 – 1982 · Watertown–BostonBorn in Kharpert (Harput), he founded the Star Market supermarket chain in Watertown with his father Sarkis and became one of Greater Boston's leading philanthropists.[26]
Musical InstrumentsAvedis Zildjian III
Quincy, MassachusettsHeir to a cymbal-making secret handed down since 1618 in Constantinople. In 1929 he opened a Zildjian foundry in Quincy, turning the family firm into the world's largest cymbal maker.[27,16]
ElectronicsSarkis Acopian
Easton, PennsylvaniaAn immigrant of the 1940s and a U.S. Army veteran, he graduated from Lafayette College and founded Acopian Technical Company in 1957. The company still makes power supplies in Easton and in Melbourne, Florida.[28]
Publishing & PhilanthropyGerard Cafesjian
1925 – 2013 · MinnesotaA West Publishing executive who became a philanthropist, he founded the Cafesjian Family Foundation and the Cafesjian Center for the Arts at the Cascade in Yerevan.[29]
RetailCharles Bilezikian
1937 – 2016 · Cape CodWith his wife Doreen he opened the first Christmas Tree Shops in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, in 1970. By 2003, when the family sold the business, the chain had 23 stores.[30]
RestaurantsDave's Hot Chicken Founders
Founded 2017 · Los AngelesChildhood friends Arman Oganesyan, Dave Kopushyan, Tommy Rubenyan and Gary Rubenyan started with a $900 stand in an East Hollywood parking lot. In 2025 the chain was sold to Roark Capital in a deal valued at close to $1 billion.[31,32]
TechnologyAlexis Ohanian
b. 1983Co-founder of Reddit, one of the most visited websites in the world.[16]
Business & MediaKim Kardashian
b. 1980 · Los AngelesEntrepreneur and media figure, daughter of Armenian American attorney Robert Kardashian. She has used her platform to call for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, including during a 2015 visit to Armenia.[33,34]
Cuisine & HumanitarianismGeorge Mardikian
1903 – 1977Arrived at Ellis Island in 1922 and became a citizen in 1928. He founded Omar Khayyam's in San Francisco, advised the U.S. Army on food, and through ANCHA helped Armenian displaced persons immigrate to the U.S.[35]
ProfilesGovernment & Public Service
GovernmentGeorge Deukmejian
1928 – 2018Born in Menands, New York. He served as a California state senator and attorney general, then as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991.[36]
National SecurityPaul Ignatius
1920 – 2025 · GlendaleBorn in Glendale to Armenian immigrant parents, he served in the Navy in World War II and became the 59th U.S. Secretary of the Navy under President Johnson, the highest-ranking Armenian American in U.S. government history. He died in 2025 at 104.[37]
Presidential SpeechwriterKen Khachigian
b. 1944 · VisaliaGrew up on his family's farm in Visalia; his father was a genocide survivor from Chomaklou, near Kayseri. After serving as a speechwriter in the Nixon White House and helping the former president with his memoirs, he became Ronald Reagan's chief speechwriter.[64,65] He wrote Reagan's 1981 first inaugural address and his 1985 remarks at the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. His memoir, Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan & Nixon, appeared in 2024.[66,65]
CongressAnna Eshoo
b. 1942 · Silicon ValleyOf Assyrian and Armenian heritage, she represented Silicon Valley in the U.S. House from 1993 to 2025.[38]
ProfilesLocal Government & Public Safety
Armenian Americans now hold many local offices in the San Fernando Valley and the Glendale–Burbank area, where the community is largest.
Los Angeles City CouncilAdrin Nazarian
b. 1973 · Tehran → San Fernando ValleyBorn in Tehran, he came to the San Fernando Valley with his family as a child. He represented the 46th District in the California State Assembly from 2012 to 2022, and since December 2024 he has represented Council District 2 on the Los Angeles City Council, covering North Hollywood, Studio City, Sun Valley, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen and Valley Village.[39,40]
Mayor of GlendaleArdy Kassakhian
Glendale resident since 1986Ardashes "Ardy" Kassakhian was born in Boston and went to Glendale public schools. He was Glendale's elected City Clerk for 15 years before joining the City Council. He was mayor in 2022–23 and was chosen as mayor again in April 2026.[41,42]
Public SafetyRobert William
Glendale Police Chief, 2026A lifelong Glendale resident who grew up speaking Armenian at home. He joined the Glendale Police Department as a cadet, was sworn in as an officer in 2003 and became interim chief in December 2025. On June 23, 2026, the City Council unanimously appointed him the department's 21st chief of police, the first Armenian American to lead it.[43,44,45]
Glendale City CouncilElen Asatryan
GlendaleBorn in Armenia, she became the first Armenian woman elected to the Glendale City Council (2022) and the city's first Armenian woman mayor (2024).[46]
Glendale City CouncilAra Najarian
Glendale, 2005 — 2026Born in Cleveland in 1960, the attorney joined the Glendale City Council in 2005 and became its longest-serving member. He was chosen mayor five times, most recently in 2025, and also served on the Metro and Metrolink boards. He retired from the council in June 2026.[47,48,49]
Glendale City CouncilVartan Gharpetian
Glendale, since 2015A real estate broker and business owner, he was first elected to the council in 2015 and served as mayor in 2016–2017. Before that he sat on the city's Design Review Board and its historic preservation and parks commissions. His current term runs to 2028.[50]
Glendale City CouncilVrej Agajanian
GlendaleA television executive and owner of AABC TV, he won a council seat in 2017. His colleagues selected him as mayor in April 2020, succeeding Ara Najarian.[51,52]
Glendale City CouncilAlek Bartrosouf
Glendale, since 2026A child of immigrants who came to the U.S. from Iran as a baby, he grew up in Glendale and became an urban planner with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Elected in June 2026, he took the seat of the retiring Ara Najarian.[53,54,49]
ProfilesSports & Chess
Armenian Americans have won national championships, Grand Slams and Super Bowls, and today one of the world's best chess players competes for the United States.
ChessLevon Aronian
b. 1982 · St. LouisOne of the strongest grandmasters of his generation, he led Armenia to Chess Olympiad gold medals. In 2021 he moved to St. Louis and switched to the U.S. Chess Federation, and he has represented the United States since then.[55,56]
TennisAndre Agassi
b. 1970 · Las VegasFormer world No. 1 and eight-time Grand Slam champion of Armenian and Assyrian descent.[16]
College FootballAra Parseghian
1923 – 2017 · Akron & Notre DameThe son of an Armenian father who fled the genocide in 1915, he coached Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973 and became one of the most respected coaches in the sport.[57,58]
College BasketballJerry Tarkanian
1930 – 2015 · Las VegasThe Armenian American coach built UNLV's Runnin' Rebels into a powerhouse, reaching four Final Fours and winning the 1990 NCAA national championship.[59]
Pro FootballGaro Yepremian
1944 – 2015 · MiamiBorn to an Armenian family in Cyprus, he kicked for 15 NFL seasons, mostly with the Miami Dolphins. He led the league in scoring and helped Miami win back-to-back championships.[60]
BaseballSteve Bedrosian
b. 1957 · Methuen, MassachusettsOne of a handful of major leaguers of Armenian descent, the reliever nicknamed "Bedrock" won the 1987 National League Cy Young Award with the Philadelphia Phillies.[61]
ChessVaruzhan Akobian
b. 1983 · Yerevan → U.S.He moved to the U.S. as a teenager and earned the grandmaster title at 20. He won the U.S. Junior Championship and the World Open, and helped the U.S. win silver at the 2009 World Team Championship.[62]
Mixed Martial ArtsKaro Parisyan
b. 1982 · North HollywoodA judo-based fighter from Yerevan who fought out of North Hollywood, he became WEC Welterweight Champion and competed in the UFC and Bellator.[63]
Photo credits
Portraits via Wikimedia Commons and official sources. Arshile Gorky: Von Urban, Public domain; Rouben Mamoulian: Unknown author, Public domain; Alan Hovhaness: Bariolage, CC BY-SA 4.0; Cher: Raph_PH, CC BY-SA 4.0; Serj Tankian: Californipedia, CC0; Peter Balakian: kellywritershouse, CC BY 2.0; Raymond Damadian: Madkennyboy, CC BY-SA 3.0; Ardem Patapoutian: Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0; Noubar Afeyan: Voice of America / Armenian Service, Public domain; Luther Simjian: Unknown author, Public domain; Kirk Kerkorian: Armenia Post (2017 stamp), Public domain; Alex Manoogian: Vahagn Mkrtychan (HayPost), Public domain; Richard Manoogian: Detroit Regional Chamber, courtesy; Kevork Hovnanian: NJ.com / The Star-Ledger, courtesy; Hirair Hovnanian: The Armenian Weekly, courtesy; Stephen P. Mugar: Boston Public Library, Digital Commonwealth, courtesy; Avedis Zildjian III: via Wikipedia, historical photo; Sarkis Acopian: Acopian Technical Company, courtesy; Gerard Cafesjian: Cafesjian Museum Foundation, CC BY-SA 3.0; Charles Bilezikian: The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, courtesy; Dave's Hot Chicken Founders: Dave's Hot Chicken via CNBC, courtesy; Alexis Ohanian: Xuthoria, CC BY-SA 4.0; Kim Kardashian: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0; George Mardikian: Eryia Amirian, CC BY 3.0; George Deukmejian: State of California, Office of the Governor, Public domain; Paul Ignatius: United States Government, Public domain; Ken Khachigian: White House Photographic Office (Reagan Library), Public domain; Anna Eshoo: United States Congress, Public domain; Adrin Nazarian: Los Angeles City Council, Public domain; Ardy Kassakhian: City of Glendale, California, Public domain; Robert William: City of Glendale, official portrait; Elen Asatryan: Unknown author, Public domain; Ara Najarian: City of Glendale, Public domain; Vartan Gharpetian: City of Glendale, official portrait; Vrej Agajanian: City of Glendale, official portrait; Alek Bartrosouf: City of Glendale, Public domain; Paul Krekorian: Los Angeles City Council, Public domain; Levon Aronian: Stefan64, CC BY-SA 3.0; Andre Agassi: Shinya Suzuki from New York, U.S.A., CC BY 2.0; Ara Parseghian: Unknown photographer, Public domain; Jerry Tarkanian: Long Beach State Athletics, Public domain; Garo Yepremian: Whitehouse.gov, Public domain; Steve Bedrosian: Action Superstars, Public domain; Varuzhan Akobian: Stefan64, CC BY-SA 3.0; Karo Parisyan: UFC, courtesy; William Saroyan: Library of Congress, Public domain.
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