CHESCO MAN KILLED IN IRAQ DREAMED OF PEACE
By Nancy Petersen
The Philadelphia Inquirer
March 19, 2008 Wednesday
Albert A. Haroutounian, a 36-year-old civilian from Havertown who
was killed in Iraq while working as a translator for the Army, was
buried yesterday in the western Chester County town of Honey Brook.
Behind the funeral home where the service was being held, an Amish
man plowed his field with a team of six horses, a fitting counterpoint
for a man who, as his Web site says, dreamed of world peace.
The site says Haroutounian’s "greatest message to the entire world
would be to simply live in happiness."
Haroutounian was working in Iraq with Trinity Inc., a small company
that employs translators across the globe. His dream was to make enough
money to open a pizza shop in Delaware County, said a person close
to the family. Haroutounian’s family declined requests for interviews.
"He received an offer from that company, and he was going for the
money," said Alfredo Canavati, owner of Alfredo’s Pizza in Havertown,
where Haroutounian once worked.
"He had a lot of ambition," Canavati said. "But he always liked to
help people who were struggling because he struggled. He told me that
he was basically trying to save the world."
Haroutounian’s dreams were shattered by a suicide bomber in Baghdad who
detonated his explosives about 30 feet away, according to Associated
Press reports. The blast on March 10 was the deadliest attack on
American forces in Baghdad in more than eight months, killing five
and injuring three soldiers.
According to his Web site, Haroutounian was born in Kuwait in 1971,
the grandson of immigrants from Armenia. Along with his father, he
and his three brothers immigrated to this country in 1985 shortly
after the death of their mother.
Fluent in Armenian, Arabic and English, Haroutounian was also an
author. In 2005, he published a romantic novel about time travel
titled The Clock Doc: An Essence of Time Mended Properly! The novel
is selling for $14.95 on Amazon.
"It was a very interesting book," said the graphic artist Levon
Derkrikorian, who met Haroutounian when he worked at Alfredo’s.
Derkrikorian said he was devastated to hear about Haroutounian’s death.
"You can always tell a good person," he said, "and there wasn’t a
bad bone in his entire being. He can only be remembered well."
Haroutounian’s Web site said he believed in a "world of no terror,
nor any wars, as he values the lives of all humankind."