PRESS RELEASE
Office of Assemblymember Portantino
CONTACT: Wendy Gordon
626.720.3409 mobile
626.577.9944 office
3/17/2011
Assemblymember Portantino Honors Memory of
Martin Marootian Plaintiff in Landmark Genocide Case
Sacramento – Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada
Flintridge) has commemorated the life and accomplishments of Martin
Marootian by adjourning the State Assembly in his
memory. Mr. Marootian died February 25, 2011 at the age of 95.
In 1999, Mr. Marootian joined a legal battle to force New York Life to
honor life insurance policies purchased by more than 2,000 Armenians,
most of whom perished in what historians have described as the first
genocide of the 20th century. From 1915 to 1923, an estimated 1.5
million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Marootian,
along with other Armenians, saw the battle with New York Life as an
opportunity to win some official acknowledgement of the suffering of
genocide victims and their heirs. It was the beginning of a legal
battle that culminated in a $20 million settlement in 2004.
Marootian “was not interested in…money but in restitution of
Armenian history,” said Vartkes Yeghiayan, the Glendale attorney who
spearheaded the lawsuit. “He was one of my heroes.”
“Martin Marootian is a hero to all who value truth and justice and I
am proud to honor his memory,” commented Assemblymember Portantino.
“Nearly a century later, the genocide remains firm in our minds and we
recall the lives of so many innocent people lost during those terrible
years.”
Portantino was joined in remembering the life and legacy of
Mr. Marootian by Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo).
Portantino and Achadjian are also jointly authoring the Assembly’s
Armenian Genocide Memorial Resolution.
From: A. Papazian