InternationalJivan Tabibian, 72, diplomat and Renaissance man
Published: Friday July 31, 2009
Jivan Tabibian, 1937–2009. Foreign Ministry of Armenia
Yerevan - Jivan Tabibian, who had served for 10 years as Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, died on July 31, Armenia's Foreign Ministry announced the same day.
Between 1998 and 2008, Mr. Tabibian also served as Permanent Representative of Armenia to the International Atomic Energy Association and other UN agencies in Vienna. He served as ambassador to Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia from 1998 to 2006. He was awarded the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in 1999. He retired from the Foreign Service last year.
"We were each very, very fortunate to have had Jivan as a friend and colleague - and in my case as a permanent teacher," Salpi Ghazarian, director of the Civilitas Foundation, told the Armenian Reporter. Mr. Tabibian served on the Honorary Board of the foundation. "I would even say that the world, and especially our little piece of it, has benefitted from his wisdom and goodness," she added.
Born in 1937 in Beirut, Mr. Tabibian graduated in 1959 from the American University of Beirut, where he majored in politics. He was also a graduate of Princeton University and the Sorbonne, where he studied political sociology. From 1962 to 1971, he taught politics and international relations at the Universities of North Carolina and California, and urban planning at USC.
Mr. Tabibian thereafter served as a consultant to governments, institutions and corporations in various countries, including the United States, Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Canada, and Iran. He was on the boards of the International Design Conference in Aspen, the Sundance Institute of Film and Television, and the Corporate Board of the Grand Union Corporation in New Jersey.
