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On September 25, 2026, Richard Manoogian passed away at age 90. He was the son of AGBU’s fifth president Alex Manoogian and his wife Marie, and brother of AGBU’S sixth president Louise Manoogian Simone.
He first became a member of the AGBU Central Board in 1996. He was then elected to the Council of Trustees in 2006 and later transitioned to serve as Emeritus Trustee on the AGBU Council of Trustees in 2019.
HE WAS the President and CEO of Masco Corporation, a global company in the home improvement and remodeling industry that his father Alex founded after inventing the single-handle Delta® faucet.
AGBU President Sam Simonian remarked, “Given his own family legacy, Richard appreciated the importance of continuity and consistency while embracing opportunity and innovation. For all he achieved in life, as a business leader, a philanthropist and community leader, AGBU and countless Armenians touched by his largesse have been better off for it.”
Like his father, Manoogian supported numerous projects in Armenia, advancing Armenian vocational, educational, and cultural initiatives. In America, in 2022 he stepped up as the benefactor of a 4,000 square foot Manoogian STEAM Center, a state-of-the-art, $2 million facility at the AGBU Alex & Marie Manoogian School in Southfield, Michigan. This came about after his funding of the multimillion-dollar construction of a 35,000 sq. ft. high school building.
In parallel to his work in philanthropy, Manoogian presided over the Masco Corporation, bringing his timely vision to the company that his father, an immigrant to the United States, founded–thus planting the seeds of an American Dream come true for a Genocide survivor and his progeny. In turn, Alex’s children Richard and Louise used their good fortune to uplift the lives of countless others.
In his mid-twenties, Richard Manoogian launched an expansionary plan for Masco that unleashed a momentous period of accelerated growth. Between 1960 and 1980, under Manoogian’s leadership, Masco expanded its operations and acquired more than 100 companies.
In 1985, he was named Masco’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. In 2007, after almost 50 years with the company, he stepped down and became Masco’s Executive Chairman. In 2012, he was named Chairman Emeritus.
The Manoogian name is widely known for the stately home Richard Manoogian grew up in on the Detroit River. In 1965, his father gifted the mansion to the City of Detroit to use as the official mayoral residence. It was the family’s way of thanking the city of Detroit, which had become its home, as grateful Americans and proud Armenians. |
