Paken Sassouni
Editor’s Note: A veteran member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Papken Sassouni passed away on Monday, October 30. During his funeral service on November 10, at Forest Lawn Hollywood, Ani Mgrdichian delivered a remembrance highlighting his life and accomplishments, translated from the original Arnenian. We present Mgrdichian’s remarks below.
Papken Sassouni was born in Chaville, France in 1929. He was the youngest son of Garo Sassouni, Armenian intellectual, educator, author, and revolutionary leader, and Leola Sassouni, humanitarian and social activist. His elder brothers were Souren (Serge), born in 1920, in Armenia, and Viken, born in 1922, in Tabriz, Iran.
The family moved to Aleppo in 1934 and, eventually, settled in Beirut, Lebanon in 1936, where Papken attended Hamazkayin Jemaran, receiving his primary and secondary education under the guiding influence and counsel of several great educators and literary figures, including Levon Shant, Nigol Aghbalian, and his father. Many of his deepest and enduring friendships took root and were cultivated there, including that of his future wife, Marjolaine.
Papken graduated Jemaran, in 1946, and continued his higher education in Beirut through the early ’50’s at Lycée Français de Beirut and The Center for Mathematical Studies, where he graduated with honors.
During this time, he joined the ranks of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, in which he was an active and dedicated member throughout his life, fulfilling his passionate desire to serve his nation.
Papken Sassouni with his grandson, Armen
In 1953, after becoming engaged to Marjolaine Boudakian, Papken left Beirut and settled in Paris, France. As a French citizen, he served in the French Army, receiving his military training at Ecole Militaire de Saint-Maixent, and was later deployed and stationed in Koblenz, Germany, and Tunisia. He attained the rank of captain, and was honorably discharged in 1955.
Back in civilian life, he was accepted to Sorbonne University for graduate studies in mathematics at the Henri Poincaré Institute of Mathematics, pursuing his deep interest in the sciences. Papken was fascinated with mathematical language, and how the laws of nature could be expressed with elegance in the form of equations. He was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1955.
Papken Sassouni (right) with his childhood friend the late Seno Pakradouni, the former editor of Asbarez
Papken and Marjolaine were married in 1955, at the Armenian Church of Paris. In 1957, an opportunity arose in the nascent field of computer science and together they set sail for America, settling in Philadelphia near Papken’s older brother, Viken. He began applying his knowledge of mathematics to the field of computing initially on the ENIAC computer — heralded as the “giant brainâ€
