RICHARD KLOIAN, 73 PIONEERING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE EDUCATOR, PASSES AWAY
by Lou Ann Matossian
05-05-richard-kloian-73-pioneering-armenian-genoci de-educator-passes-away
Wednesday May 05, 2010
Minneapolis – One Armenian scholar called him "a national treasure,"
others "an indispensable bridge" between genocide researchers,
historians, educators, and the public. The name of Richard Diran
Kloian, 73, who passed away on May 1 of complications from a brain
stem stroke, was synonymous with that of the Richmond, Calif.-based
Armenian Genocide Resource Center.
Richard Kloian and the AGRC were probably best known for The Armenian
Genocide: News Accounts from the American Press, 1915-1922, a landmark
1985 collection of articles reproduced from the New York Times and
other sources. Painstakingly compiled from microfilm in the years
before digitization and the Internet made historic newspaper stories
widely accessible, the coverage of what America’s newspaper of record
had once called "systematic race extermination" made a powerful impact
just as Ankara’s denial campaign was shifting into high gear.
Originally published in 1980 and 1981 as Armenian Genocide: First 20th
Century Holocaust, subsequent editions through 2007 were expanded
to cover the Hamidian massacres of the 1890s and the Adana massacre
of 1909.
An amateur in the highest sense of the word, Richard devoted himself
to public education about this crime against humanity, drawing on
the social acumen and networking experiences of a rich and varied life.
The Detroit native, born March 7, 1937, studied science in high
school and English and French in college, also developing interests
in astronomy, photography, and music. A retail manager during the
work week and an accomplished Latin percussionist on the weekends,
he was playing at the Puerto Rican Club in Detroit when he met his
future wife Antonia, a beautician and former nun to whom he was
married more than 40 years.
Richard’s interest in the Genocide was inspired by his grandmother,
Khanum Palootzian, whose harrowing survival story he recorded in
1972, including eyewitness accounts from his father Zakaria and uncle
Mesrob of Grasse, France. Realizing the effectiveness of personal
narratives as a teaching tool, he would later encourage others to
send family memoirs to Armenian Studies centers where the stories
could be preserved and shared.
After moving to California, Richard spent his nights and weekends
researching the Armenian Genocide at the University of California and
compiling historic news accounts. Eager to know more, he returned to
college full time, graduating in 1993 with associate of arts degrees
in English, sociology, history, political science, and law. Four years
later, in response to a growing demand for materials on the Genocide
for classroom use, Richard established the Armenian Genocide Resource
Center and funded it out of his Social Security benefits.
To facilitate the teaching of the Armenian Genocide, Richard compiled
hundreds of articles from scholarly journals and published scores of
booklets and readers. He compiled, edited, produced, and distributed a
400-page resource manual of maps, Web sites, photographs, news reports,
primary-source documents, scholarly articles on the Genocide and its
denial, and U.S. state-level curricula that mandated teaching about
the Armenian Genocide.
Richard was instrumental in making the Genocide part of the
secondary-school curriculum in many parts of the country and was sought
after for his expertise. In 2003, for example, he and representatives
of four Armenian organizations were invited to give expert testimony
before the California State Assembly Committee on Education in support
of a genocide education bill.
As a contributor to National Public Radio, he recorded and edited
important lectures related to the Genocide and made them available
as part of the AGRC Educational Audio Series. He also produced and
distributed a variety of Genocide-related videos, including, in 2009,
a restored and edited 24-minute segment of the 1919 silent motion
picture Ravished Armenia.
"I would like to see funded and staffed resource centers that can
take on this role, work with their communities, and do outreach,"
Richard told the Armenian Reporter in 2007. "We need to support
our existing research centers as well, like Zoryan and others. Much
work needs to be done but I believe we have the talent and the will,
the vision and dedication to do it."
Richard served on the advisory board of The Genocide Education Project
(genocideeducation.org), a San Francisco-based nonprofit that assists
educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly
the Armenian Genocide. In 2002 he was honored by the San Francisco Bay
Area Armenian National Committee as a "Local Hero" for his dedication
to the study of the Armenian Genocide.
Richard Kloian is survived by his widow Antonia; brothers Arnold,
Bearnard, Michael, and Scott; and several nieces and nephews. The
funeral services will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 6, at
Smith & Witter Funeral Home, 5145 Sobrante Ave., El Sobrante, Calif.,
(510) 758-5466. He will be buried at Rolling Hills Memorial Park,
4100 Hilltop Dr., El Sobrante, Calif., (510) 223-6161.
Editor’s Note: Adapted from a profile by Tania Ketenjian reproduced
in full below.
A man’s work, a nation’s heritage by Tania Ketenjian from the Armenian
Reporter, May 26, 2007. , Iss.
13; pg. C4, 5 pgs
One Armenian scholar has called him "a national treasure," others "an
indispensable bridge" between genocide scholars, historians, educators,
and the public. Richard Kloian. It’s not a name with which many of us
in the Armenian community are intimately familiar – but we should be,
we must be, because Richard Kloian has dedicated his life to having
the Armenian voice heard.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
