HOVNANIAN’S FORTUITOUS PATH TO AMERICA
By Bill Mooney
Trenton Times, NJ
Sept 27 2006
MOUNT LAUREL — Jirair Hovnanian, patriarch of the J.S. Hovnanian &
Sons building company, never forgets where his family came from.
"My family was driven out of Turkey during the 1915 massacre," said
the recent recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. "My father
was 15 years old, and they were driven into the Syrian desert. The
Turks wanted to wipe out the Armenian minority when Armenians were
the tradesmasters, the businessmen." Hovnanian, now in his 70s, was
born in Baghdad, Iraq, lived in Kirkuk for a time and then attended
a Jesuit school in Baghdad. A different place and time.
Those memories stayed with him as he arrived in this country in
1948 at the age of 21 with his family and served as inspiration as
he helped build up what has become one of the larger home-building
enterprises in the region. The medal, given earlier this month by
the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, recognizes citizens
of diverse ethnic backgrounds for contributions to the United States.
"I was born in Baghdad," he said. "America is really my first country."
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of
Business, Hovnanian began a construction business in 1959 with
his three brothers, then in 1964 started his own company that now
includes two sons Stephen and Peter, as well as a grandson, Garo,
and has established a base building homes and commercial properties
in central and southern New Jersey.
"I never really came through Ellis Island," he said, but he appre
ciates what it stands for. "That facility allowed so many millions
of Americans to come to this country and become citizens of this
coun try."
Of the medal, he said, "I will cherish it forever. It gives me the
opportunity to say thank you to America."
As a successful businessman, Hovnanian has given back to the community
here and abroad. He is the founder of the Armenian Sis ters Academy,
a private school; a member of the Armenian Assembly of America; and
an archdeacon of St. Gregory’s Armenian Church in Philadelphia. He is
working to establish a high-tech center in Armenia, an International
Synchotron Light Source Accelerator Research Center in conjunction
with the European Union and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
"We have everything. They don’t have everything," he said of the
Middle Eastern and Central European regions. "We have to show them
how to become successful. It’s like the Bible says: Don’t give them
the fish; give them something to fish with."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
