Philadelphia Inquirer
June 17 2011
Obituary
Vahaken Tachdjian, retired gastroenterologist
By Sally A. Downey
Inquirer Staff Writer
Vahaken Tachdjian, 90, of Wynnewood, a retired gastroenterologist and
an activist in the Armenian community, died of complications of a
stroke Saturday, June 11, at Lankenau Hospital.
Dr. Tachdjian’s grandparents were killed in the massacre of Armenians
in Turkey in the early 20th century. In 1922, his parents fled Turkey
with their year-old son and walked across the Syrian desert to
Lebanon.
Raised and educated in Beirut, Dr. Tachdjian immigrated to the United
States with his wife in 1958 to escape unrest in the Middle East.
In January 1964, he was chosen as spokesman for a group of 97
immigrants at a citizenship ceremony in Philadelphia. “We have chosen
to become citizens of this country because we feel we can live here in
peace and security,” he said. After the swearing-in, he told The
Inquirer that “we felt this was a country where human rights are
respected.”
Dr. Tachdjian earned a medical degree from the American University of
Beirut. He was a fellow at Harvard University Medical School in 1948
and later did research in gastroenterology at Massachusetts General
Hospital in Boston before returning to Beirut.
After moving to the United States, he maintained medical offices in
Wynnewood and at Graduate Hospital until he was in his mid-80s. He was
also on the staff of Haverford Community Hospital.
Dr. Tachdjian was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Graduate School of Medicine for many years. He wrote 20 articles
published in scientific journals and was associate editor of the
four-volume reference set Bockus Gastroenterology. In the 1990s, he
served on the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.
According to an article published in the Armenian Reporter
International in 2002, Dr. Tachdjian was a founder and past president
of the Association of Armenian Doctors of Philadelphia, was active
with a coalition of five Armenian churches in the Philadelphia region,
and was a patron of the Armenian Sisters Academy in Radnor.
He received the key to the city from Mayor Frank L. Rizzo and an award
from the Armenian Missionary Association of America, among other
honors.
Dr. Tachdjian is survived by his wife of 67 years, Asdghik Der
Bedrossian Tachdjian; daughters Ashkhen, Houri, and Maral; a brother;
a sister; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at noon Saturday, June 18, at Armenian
Martyrs’ Congregational Church, 100 N. Edmonds Ave., Havertown.
Friends may call from 10 a.m.