DIASPORA PHILANTHROPIST REBURIED IN ARMENIA
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 17 2007
Alex Manoogian, one of the most prominent Diaspora Armenian
philanthropists, and his wife were reburied in Armenia with state
honors on Tuesday more than a decade after their death in the United
States.
The remains of Alex and Marie Manoogians were laid to rest near the
main cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in a state funeral
attended by Catholicos Garegin II, President Robert Kocharian and
other top government officials. They were flown from Detroit and
escorted to the church headquarters in Echmiadzin by an honor guard
of the Armenian army on Friday.
Speaking at a reception that followed the funeral service in
Echmiadzin, Garegin paid tribute to the U.S.-Armenian businessman’s
lifetime support for worldwide Diaspora communities and Armenia. "Our
souls are happy today to see the bodies of Alex and Marie Manoogian
interred in their beloved homeland, in Saint Echmiadzin, which was
so dear to their hearts," he said.
"The life and activities of Alex Manoogian were a unique embodiment
of love and dedication to his family, his people and the Fatherland,"
parliament speaker Tigran Torosian said, for his part.
Manoogian, who died in Detroit in 1996 at the age of 95, is primarily
known as a former longtime president of the Armenian General Benevolent
Union (AGBU), the largest Diaspora Armenian charity founded in 1906
and currently headquartered in New York. His nearly four-decade
leadership of the non-profit organization was marked a dramatic
expansion of its worldwide activities.
With an annual international budget of $36 million, AGBU finances
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs which benefit hundreds
of thousands of Armenians around the world each year. Its activities in
Armenia began in Soviet times and were expanded in the late 1980s. AGBU
has provided more than $50 million worth of humanitarian and other
assistance to the country since the Soviet collapse.
The Armenian Church has been another major beneficiary of AGBU aid.
Much of it has been spent on the construction of new churches, notably
a massive cathedral in Yerevan. Incidentally, an open-air altar where
Garegin led a prayer service during the funeral was built with AGBU
funding in 2001.
During the early 1990s, Manoogian became the first Diaspora Armenian
to receive Armenia’s highest state award, the title of National Hero,
by then President Levon Ter-Petrosian. That is why his coffin was
draped with the Armenian national flag.
Louise Manoogian Simone, the deceased couple’s daughter who officially
ran AGBU between 1991 and 2002, was also present at the ceremony
along with her brother Richard. She thanked Garegin for initiating
the high-profile reburial.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
