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The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
November 26, 2014 Wednesday
DR. EDGAR HOUSEPIAN; LED QUAKE RELIEF EFFORT
by Jay Levin, Staff Writer; Email: [email protected]
Dr. Edgar M. Housepian, who helped spearhead relief efforts after a
monumental 1988 earthquake in Armenia, has died. He was 86 and a
resident of Englewood.
As a neurosurgeon and Columbia University professor, Dr. Housepian was
among a triumvirate of community leaders -- the others were Archbishop
Torkom Manoogian, head of the Armenian Orthodox Church in the United
States, and New Jersey-based home builder Kevork Hovnanian -- who
mobilized help for Armenia, then a Soviet republic. The magnitude-6.9
quake killed tens of thousands and destroyed the cities of Gyumri and
Spitak.
Dr. Housepian arranged for volunteers to staff a phone bank at New
York-Presbyterian Hospital; they rounded up millions of dollars' worth
of medicine and equipment for Armenia. They also found 30 American
doctors ready to go to the quake zone at a moment's notice, but they
were told to stay home because there was nowhere to lodge them.
Dr. Housepian, however, did go, with Manoogian and Hovnanian.
"There was nothing but coffins all over," he recalled in an interview
with the Armenian Reporter. "If we had taken our team of 30 doctors,
we could not have done anything."
Dr. Housepian, Manoogian and Hovnanian subsequently formed a
non-profit now called the Fund for American Relief, or FAR. Today, the
New York-based organization focuses on humanitarian aid, social and
economic development and educational and professional advancement in
Armenia, and has directed more than $250 million to Armenia.
In one FAR endeavor initiated by Dr. Housepian, dozens of young
doctors from Armenia have studied at leading U.S. hospitals.
Edgar Housepian, the son of a physician, got his first taste of
medicine as a teenage orderly in New York Hospital's operating room.
"I saw all sorts of operations, even helped out in the autopsy suite,"
he told the Armenian Reporter. "Then I was asked to scrub on a couple
of neurosurgical operations. When you're 15 years old, that's pretty
awesome. It no doubt at least subconsciously influenced my future
career."
He graduated from Columbia College and Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons. He was a longtime faculty member at the
Neurological Institute of New York, part of Columbia University
Medical Center.
Dr. Housepian, a Navy veteran, died Nov. 14. He is survived by two
sons, David and Stephen; a daughter, Jean Housepian; and a grandchild.
His wife, Marion, died last year.
A memorial service will be held Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. at St. Vartan
Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan. Arrangements were by Barrett Funeral
Home, Tenafly
From: A. Papazian
November 26, 2014 Wednesday
DR. EDGAR HOUSEPIAN; LED QUAKE RELIEF EFFORT
by Jay Levin, Staff Writer; Email: [email protected]
Dr. Edgar M. Housepian, who helped spearhead relief efforts after a
monumental 1988 earthquake in Armenia, has died. He was 86 and a
resident of Englewood.
As a neurosurgeon and Columbia University professor, Dr. Housepian was
among a triumvirate of community leaders -- the others were Archbishop
Torkom Manoogian, head of the Armenian Orthodox Church in the United
States, and New Jersey-based home builder Kevork Hovnanian -- who
mobilized help for Armenia, then a Soviet republic. The magnitude-6.9
quake killed tens of thousands and destroyed the cities of Gyumri and
Spitak.
Dr. Housepian arranged for volunteers to staff a phone bank at New
York-Presbyterian Hospital; they rounded up millions of dollars' worth
of medicine and equipment for Armenia. They also found 30 American
doctors ready to go to the quake zone at a moment's notice, but they
were told to stay home because there was nowhere to lodge them.
Dr. Housepian, however, did go, with Manoogian and Hovnanian.
"There was nothing but coffins all over," he recalled in an interview
with the Armenian Reporter. "If we had taken our team of 30 doctors,
we could not have done anything."
Dr. Housepian, Manoogian and Hovnanian subsequently formed a
non-profit now called the Fund for American Relief, or FAR. Today, the
New York-based organization focuses on humanitarian aid, social and
economic development and educational and professional advancement in
Armenia, and has directed more than $250 million to Armenia.
In one FAR endeavor initiated by Dr. Housepian, dozens of young
doctors from Armenia have studied at leading U.S. hospitals.
Edgar Housepian, the son of a physician, got his first taste of
medicine as a teenage orderly in New York Hospital's operating room.
"I saw all sorts of operations, even helped out in the autopsy suite,"
he told the Armenian Reporter. "Then I was asked to scrub on a couple
of neurosurgical operations. When you're 15 years old, that's pretty
awesome. It no doubt at least subconsciously influenced my future
career."
He graduated from Columbia College and Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons. He was a longtime faculty member at the
Neurological Institute of New York, part of Columbia University
Medical Center.
Dr. Housepian, a Navy veteran, died Nov. 14. He is survived by two
sons, David and Stephen; a daughter, Jean Housepian; and a grandchild.
His wife, Marion, died last year.
A memorial service will be held Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. at St. Vartan
Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan. Arrangements were by Barrett Funeral
Home, Tenafly
From: A. Papazian