Jack Antreassian, 89, was executive director of AGBU and Eastern Diocese

Published: Tuesday July 14, 2009

Jack Antreassian, 1920–2009.

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Memories of Jack Antreassian

New York - Jack Antreassian – writer, editor, publisher, executive director of both the AGBU and the Eastern Diocese, a true giant of the Armenian-American community – died on July 4 in New York, following an illness. He was 89. A memorial service will be held at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral (Second Avenue at 34th Street in New York City) on Sunday, July 26, at 4:00 p.m.

Jack (Ardavast) Antreassian was born on April 20, 1920, in Constantinople, where his family had sought shelter from massacres perpetrated in their native Hazari, Chimishgezeg. His father, Vahan, went ahead to New York City to prepare the way for the rest of the family – and to begin his new career as a barber.

Six months after their arrival in Constantinople, his mother Satenig brought Anne, Varsenig, and baby Ardavast to New York. Three older brothers – Ardashes, Ashod, and Antranig (who became an eloquent leader and writer in the Armenian-speaking world) – had to be placed in an orphanage in Greece, and could only join the others a few years later.

First settling on East 27th Street in New York's "Little Armenia," the Antreassians eventually moved to Washington Heights. Jack won a scholarship to Stuyvesant High School, and then went to City College for two years before dropping out to help support the family, despite his father's pleas for him to stay in school.

In 1943, on a furlough from his three-year stint in the Air Force, he married Alice Eksouzian, whom he had met through his sister Anne. Jack often related their love-at-first-sight story: "I remember her smile. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her and we knew from that first moment that there would be no one else." The couple had two children, Michael and Elise, and enjoyed all the pleasures of young family life in the home they bought in Flushing, Queens, New York City, next door to his sister Varsenig and brother-in-law George.

Passionate about literature and poetry, Jack continued to write even as he entered a long and distinguished career of public service in the Armenian community. He apprenticed at the Armenian Mirror-Spectator (to which he returned a few times later as editor) under the fatherly and cherished tutelage of Bedros Norehad. He later served as executive director of the AGBU at its East 40th Street headquarters in New York, where he launched an ambitious Armenian cultural program of art exhibits, concerts, and classes. During his tenure, the local chapters nationwide were strong and numerous. He did a great deal of traveling in an effort to encourage and cultivate chapter growth. On a national level, he helped establish the Antranig Dance Group, Camp Nubar, and Ararat quarterly, a literary magazine that featured Armenian artists and writers (with a sizable non-Armenian subscriber list – it was even sold at newsstands) which Jack edited for its first eight years. He later established Ararat Press, a brief publishing venture of fiction, drama, and poetry.

Offered the executive director position at the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, Jack worked with the Primate, Archbishop Torkom Manoogian (now Patriarch of Jerusalem), for several years, bringing the same creative leadership to the work of the Diocese. It was during this period that a number of exciting programs were born: the Festival of the Armenian Spirit; the One World Festival, a huge cultural event co-sponsored with New York City that featured international dance groups and food and attracted thousands of visitors to the Cathedral and St Vartan Park; Friday Night Open House – evenings of Armenian food, games, and special programs; Pro Musica, scholarships and concerts for young Armenians in the performing arts; and the St. Vartan Drama Group, among others.

These were the early days of the Diocesan Center, in the wake of the consecration of St. Vartan Cathedral. The center was so alive with activity – with classes in art appreciation, language, cooking, and history, exhibits, and "talk show" interview evenings with notable Armenians – that a popular newsletter was released called Center News. Jack also launched St. Vartan Press, among whose titles was the enormously lucrative cookbook, Armenian Cooking Today, a labor of love written and donated by his wife Alice, which earned many thousands of dollars for the Diocese.

In leading both of these Armenian institutions, Jack set many precedents: introducing the local Armenian public to important national and international personalities such as composer Aram Khatchaturian, the film pioneer Rouben Mamoulian, the writers Michael Arlen and William Saroyan, and the media critic Ben Bagdikian, among others (the special evenings featuring these talents were exciting community events); forming and serving on dozens of energetic committees; providing opportunities for writers, artists, and musicians to work and serve, launching many a career in the process.

Along with his strong, innovative leadership, Jack possessed a rare quality for a community leader. In a tribute in the Mirror-Spectator to Jack and Bedros Norehad, two of the paper's illustrious editors, Michael Zeytoonian noted that Jack "had a wonderful and unassuming charisma . . . and possessed a keen ability to relate to all types of people, to meet them at whatever place they were at in their lives and to bring them into the fold. His sense of community and grasp of the notion that every individual has a role in the greater good were infectious." As a result, wherever he went, Jack quickly attracted droves of talented, enthusiastic volunteers who felt both challenged and nurtured by him.

Upon retiring, Jack returned to the Diocese at the request of Archbishop Manoogian to oversee the massive relief efforts for the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, traveling there himself a number of times. This effort was eventually to evolve into the highly effective Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR).