Metropolitan News-Enterprise
Monday, March 29, 2004

Page 3

National Group to Honor Former Justice Arabian At Ellis Island in May

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Former California Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian will be among those
honored by a national umbrella group for ethnic organizations at a gala
event in New York City in May, the group said.

In a release last week, the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, Inc.
said it would extend to Arabian its Ellis Island Medal of Honor at a black
tie reception to be held May 15 in the historic Great Hall on Ellis Island.

The medal is given, according to NECO, “to Americans of diverse origins for
their outstanding contributions to their own ethnic groups and to American
society.”

Honorees typically include U.S. presidents, Nobel Prize winners, leaders of
industry, and gifted artists, performers, and athletes.

Arabian, the first Armenian American to serve on California’s highest court,
has won a number of honors, including the Mesrob Mashdots Medal. That honor,
named for the creator of the Armenian alphabet and among the highest in the
Armenian church, was presented by the head of the church at a ceremony in
Lebanon in 1999.

Arabian retired in 1996 after 20 years in the state judiciary. He is now an
attorney and private judge in Van Nuys.