Obituary

Hrant Agbabian was born on March 29, 1929 in Larnaca, Cyprus. At the age of two his family moved to Aleppo, Syria where his father pastored the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church. He attended Aleppo College and later emigrated at the age of 19 to the United States in early 1949.

He attended UC Berkeley and then transferred to USC to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, while taking care of his parents who had also emigrated. Hrant was a music enthusiast and minored in music. He was the choral conductor of several churches throughout his life, including Armenian Gethsemane Congregational Church and the United Armenian Congregational Church. He also created the Pro-Komitas Choral Society and gave concerts of choral arrangements of Komitas’ music and other art songs throughout California. As co-chair of the Hymnal Committee he spent 17 years compiling material for the New Armenian Evangelical Hymnal.

Hrant began his practice in 1959 in the middle of the Mid-Century Modernist era with the construction of his sister Lucie’s home in Brentwood. One of his greatest achievements was the design and construction and of the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument in Montebello, California. He also designed the St. James Armenian Church in Ladera Heights in 1971, the commercial Grand Nash building in El Segundo which housed his brother Mihran’s engineering firm, Agbabian Associates for decades in 1973, followed by the Continental Grand building in 1980 for the then Hughes Aircraft Company.

He was president of the Western Region District of the Armenian General Benevolent Union and was also a strong supporter of the Armenian Missionary Association of America.

In 1974, Hrant met Alidz Jebejian in Beirut. He arranged for her to come to the United States shortly after the civil war in Lebanon began and they were married in 1975. After retirement in the 1990s, Hrant found a new passion in pottery, and this became a new artistic endeavor for over ten years.

There will be a memorial service at United Armenian Congregational Church on March 9, at 11 am.