LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The UCLA Promise Armenian Institute is pleased to announce the inaugural presentation of its annual Kerr Family Endowed Lecture. The presentation titled “The Extraordinary Humanitarian Legacy of the Near East Relief and Three Generations of Kerrs, Warriors of Peace” will be delivered by Ani Hovannisian, with introductory reflections by Dr. Richard Hovannisian, on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at 7 p.m. PST at UCLA’s Mong Learning Center, with simultaneous remote access on Zoom.

Pre-registration is required for this hybrid event.

This audio-visual presentation, featuring rare archival material, photographs and video clips, will shed light on the massive life-saving impact of the Near East Relief (NER) and more specifically, the Kerr family, on a generation of survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Responding to horrific eyewitness accounts and urgent pleas for help, the US mobilized an unprecedented campaign of humanitarian assistance, led by the NER and given legs by a small army of relief workers, among whom were Stanley Kerr and Elsa Reckman. They met in Marash and married in Beirut in 1922. At NER’s Nahr Ibrahim orphanage, they became instant parents to hundreds of Armenian boys. After the orphanage closed, Stanley and Elsa continued their lifetime of service at American University of Beirut (AUB).

The Kerr legacy was thus born and continued with their own children. At AUB, their son Malcolm met his match in fellow student Ann Zwicker. Malcolm, who became a leading Middle East expert as a UCLA professor and later as president of AUB, spent his life with Ann building bridges of international understanding and educating future leaders. Though Malcolm was assassinated at AUB in 1984, Ann continued working for their joint life mission and raising their four children. While NBA coach Steve Kerr is the most well-known, Susan, John and Andrew also carry on the Kerr family legacy, with Ann, their matriarch, leading the way, still deeply involved with AUB while heading UCLA’s Fulbright Scholars program for more than 30 years, growing a kind army of warriors of peace across the globe.

This event is co-sponsored by the Ararat-Eskijian Museum (AEM) and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

This lectureship was created by the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute (PAI) and the Kerr Family with the aim of amplifying the stories of heroes and heroines who dedicated themselves to providing humanitarian support for victims and survivors of violence and mass atrocities in times of crisis.