It is with sorrow that Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, and the Executive and Religious Councils learned of the passing of historian George Bournoutian on Sunday, August 22, 2021.
Prof. Bournoutian, who was born in Isfahan (Iran) on September 25, 1943, was a retired professor of History and the author and translator of over 30 books, particularly focusing on Armenian history, Iran and the Caucasus in the period 1450-1900s. He obtained his Ph.D. in History from UCLA (1976) with a dissertation on Eastern Armenia on the eve of the Russian conquest. He taught Iranian history at UCLA, and Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University, New York University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, Ramapo College, and Glendale Community College and Russian and Soviet history at Iona College. He was also one of the 40 editors of the Encyclopaedia Iranica. In the 1990s he taught and lectured at the Siamanto Academy sponsored by ANEC.
He was the author of Eastern Armenia in the Last Decades of Persian Rule (1982), The Khanate of Erevan under Qajar Rule, 1795-1828 (1992), A History of the Armenian People (1993-1994); The 1823 Russian Survey of the Karabagh Province: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of Karabagh in the Early 19th Century (2012); and the popular A Concise History of the Armenian People, which had reached its seventh printing by 2018 and was translated into several languages from Spanish to Armenian to Japanese, among many other titles.
Archbishop Anoushavan and the Religious and Lay Councils extend their condolences to Prof. Bournoutian’s family members and loved ones. May God illuminate his soul. Asdvatz hokeen lousavoreh.