Some 450 people gathered at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan on January 15 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) — an organization that has provided strength and opportunity to the Armenian people — and pay tribute to a true humanitarian and co-founder of FAR, Dr. Edgar M. Housepian. 

 

Many guests traveled hundreds of miles to attend the regal gala, which helped to raise close to $1 million to support FAR operations. 

His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, presided over the event and addressed attendees.

Other notable speakers included Tribute Committee Chair Dr. Tavit Najarian; Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) and President of FAR Archbishop Khajag Barsamian; Chair of FAR’s Board of Directors Mr. Randy Sapah-Gulian; President Emeritus of Boston University and FAR Board member Dr. Aram Chobanian; and Dr. Housepian’s son Dr. David Hovsepian.

President Barack Obama sent a congratulatory letter on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Fund for Armenian Relief.

 

Mr. Tatoul Markarian, Armenia’s Ambassador to the U.S., presented to Dr. Housepian the Mkhitar Heratzi Medal, an honor from the President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan, in recognition of Dr. Housepian’s work in improving medical care and benefiting the Armenian people at large. FAR’s Board of Directors bestowed an award in recognition of Dr. Housepian’s outstanding leadership and extraordinary contribution to the wellbeing of the Armenian people. Dr. Housepian also received the highest honor in the Armenian Church, the St. Gregory The Illuminator medal and encyclical, presented to him by His Holiness Karekin II.

 

An esteemed neurosurgeon from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Dr. Edgar Housepian carried on an amazing career until his retirement in 1997. When the 1988 earthquake in Armenia nearly destroyed the cities of Gyumri and Spitak, Dr. Housepian mobilized an all-out relief effort. Together with the late prominent builder and philanthropist, FAR Chairman Emeritus (1923-2009) Kevork Hovnanian and then-Primate Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, he gathered emergency supplies and flew to Armenia to witness the impact of the disaster firsthand. 

 

With the desire to do more for their homeland, the three helped to lay the foundation for the Fund for Armenian Relief, which was originally called the Diocesan Fund for Armenian Relief (DFAR). In 1990, DFAR was reorganized as an independent NGO, the Fund for Armenian Relief with Archbishop Khajag Barsamian as the President of the organization. 

 

Dr. Housepian continues to serve as the vice chair of FAR's Board of Directors and the chair of FAR's medical committee. He also carries on humanitarian work as the Special Advisor for International Relations at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. 

 

Dr. Housepian’s passion for medical education and his dedication to FAR helped cement several crucial FAR medical programs, which are leading Armenia on the path to become an international center for medical education and research. 

 

Randy Sapah-Gulian, Chair of FAR’s Board of Directors, called Dr. Housepian a man of wisdom and a great humanitarian. He recalled the horrible day in 1988 when the terrible earthquake hit Armenia. 

 

“Back then it was all about the Fund for Armenian Relief providing the necessities of life for Armenians — housing, transportation, infrastructure — and they created the Fund for Armenian Relief because they believed they needed an organization to continue to do the important things that Armenia needed,” he said. “FAR has invested $280 million in programs and projects for Armenia. While we always provide for those that need assistance for Armenia, from an infrastructure perspective the focus has changed  to provide for the things that will help Armenians really help themselves.”

 

Today, FAR also operates programs that provide Armenians with the tools, knowledge, and resources to take ownership of their future. On a daily basis, FAR touches the lives of thousands of Armenians through programs that provide food and medical care to the elderly; care and guidance to children at-risk; education and support to students, doctors, and academics; and reconstruction of roads, hospitals, and water pipelines to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

 

Mr. Sapah-Gulian told the stories of some FAR program beneficiaries, including a young girl who obtained an education because of FAR; an elderly man who lives in FAR’s senior citizen home; and two young children who are no longer living with abusive parents because of the FAR Homeless Children Center. 

 

“These people and thousands of others have been helped because of Dr. Housepian,” Mr. Sapah-Gulian said. 

 

FAR strives not only to help people in need, but also those with talent who lack the opportunity to improve their lives. By creating educational and employment opportunities, FAR helps build a social ethos of trust essential for a productive society.

 

FAR also tries to instill the culture of volunteerism in the young generation of Armenians, explaining that giving back to others must become an essential component of their lives. Dr. Housepian has set such an example through his tireless work for Armenia. 

 

“If anyone could ever decide to be an example of goodwill towards mankind it would be Dr. Edgar Housepian,” said Archbishop Barsamian. “All of us here have witnessed his outpouring of goodwill — how he reaches out to people from all walks of life without discrimination. As his friends we know how generous he is with his time and advice. We know of his great patriotism and concern for our homeland, but what impresses me in Dr. Housepian is his truly humanitarian concern. His goodwill is directed not only to friends and fellow countrymen, but also to people he has never met and probably never will meet.”

 

Archbishop Barsamian spoke of a recent call he received from Dr. Housepian, asking how the Armenian community could help the victims of this month’s earthquake in Haiti. 

 

“Over these past 20 years I have received such calls dozens of times from Dr. Housepian,” Archbishop Barsamian said. “Whether the cause is a great disaster or the quiet affliction of an individual, the spirit of goodwill in Dr. Housepian’s heart compels him to help, to act, to use whatever power he has for relief. Today in our world there are countless people whose lives have been touched … and even saved because of his compassion and goodwill. Looking at it that way, one can see how a spirit of goodwill is truly a blessing from God and like all blessings it gives us an opportunity to reflect, be grateful, and be inspired. That is the meaning of tonight’s tribute, to honor, to thank, and to be inspired by one man’s outpouring of goodwill.” 

 

Keynote speaker Dr. Chobanian called Dr. Housepian a man of admirable finesse and resolve. He noted Dr. Housepian’s great contributions to robotic brain surgery, his contributions to Columbia University, where he has served on a multitude of committees, his participation in numerous medical societies, as well as his legendary academic accomplishments. But it is Dr. Housepian’s personality that sets him apart, Dr. Chobanian said. 

 

“While his academic accomplishments have been legendary, what really define Ed are his personal qualities. What I consider the qualities that I like to teach to medical students, residents and other physicians, I only need to think of Ed and the qualities he represents — intelligence, scholarship, thoroughness, and confidence, combined with empathy, openness, honesty, respectfulness, humility, humanness.” 

 

His Holiness Karekin II closed the program with special words of praise for the Fund for Armenian Relief and the honoree. “Dr. Edgar Housepian, following the example of his parents, who were dedicated to their homeland and loved the Church, and endowed with their zeal, he is continuing to contribute to the well being and progress of our fatherland. 

 

Since the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, through the Eastern Diocese, FAR and other organizations that were summoned to help Armenia, he has put his rich experiences and knowledge at the disposal of the productive enterprise of modernizing health care in our country, helping to refurbish the medical establishments technologically, retraining doctors, and strengthening relations between the fatherland and the diaspora.  Thanks to his professional and benevolent activities, Dr. Housepian has attained much appreciation from both professional doctors and the government of Armenia.” he said.

 

Dr. Housepian expressed his gratitude for the evening’s program. “All these activities — the medical activities that I’ve been passionate about and involved in — have had a positive impact on the medical culture of the physicians who now actually work together,” he said. “The Medical School and Health Ministry cooperate in supporting each other’s programs. These are all firsts in the former Soviet Union.” 

 

He spoke about each of the programs FAR has been implementing in Armenia — the Continuing Medical Education program and the FAR Fellowship Alumni Association; the improvement of the Armenian National Medical Library; and the Armenian National Science and Education Fund. 

 

“It’s been a great honor for me to lead some of these programs for the past 20 years and I’m grateful to our Vehapar for being here, and humbled to have received such high honors from him, the President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan, and the entire FAR Board” he said.