Edward S. Jamian, Bloomfield Hills: Hotelier valued
civil service
The Detroit News
Monday, July 25, 2005
By Judy Lin / The Detroit News
Edward S. Jamian, a former Detroit hotelier, died from
heart failure Friday, July 22, 2005, at Beaumont
Hospital in Royal Oak. He was 83.
An Armenian refugee from Turkey whose family escaped
to Cuba before immigrating to Detroit, Mr. Jamian
excelled in the real estate and insurance industry to
put his three children through school. He also taught
them the importance of public service.
Christina is a teacher; Greg is in the health care
industry and serves as an Oakland County commissioner,
and John is a former state representative now serving
in the U.S. Department of Transportation as an
appointee of President Bush.
John Jamian attributes his father’s patriotism to his
time in the Army Air Corps, where he served as an
aerial engineer aboard a Mitchell B-25 bomber during
World War II.
Mr. Jamian’s enthusiasm for politics trickled down to
his children.
“He was so proud of his country,” John Jamian said.
“Ironically, both my brother and I ended up in
politics.”
Mr. Jamian obtained his real estate broker license and
insurance license after earning an accounting degree
from the Detroit Business Institute.
Mr. Jamian ran three hotels in downtown Detroit and
managed others for his father and father-in-law. The
La Plaza at Cass and Grand River was his “pride and
joy,” family members said.
“I remember every single week on Saturdays going
downtown to Detroit with my father, and he would do
the bookkeeping and managing. He did it all,” John
Jamian said.
The properties were eventually sold in the 1970s, and
Mr. Jamian and his wife, Kora, shuttled between
Bloomfield Hills and a second home in Scottsdale,
Ariz.
Survivors include his wife, Kora; a daughter,
Christina; two sons, Greg and John; and eight
grandchildren.
Services were to be at 11 a.m. today at St. John
Armenian Church, 22001 Northwestern in Southfield.
Burial was to be in Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.
You can reach Judy Lin at (313) 222-2072 or
[email protected].