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Paren Sanentz; scholar bore witness to Armenian genocideParen Sanentz, Armenian history scholar
(c) The Boston Globe Jun 10, 2009
At 90, Paren Kazanjian Sanentz was busily working at his Macintosh computer in his Watertown home to finish his mammoth undertaking: a 1,000-page encyclopedia of the history of his beloved native Armenia, its people and places.
Author, historian, scholar, linguist, lifelong teacher, musician, and artist, he was engaged in what was a labor of love for two decades and almost 98 percent finished at the time of his death on May 23, said his son, Ara-Baruyr of Amesbury.
Mr. Sanentz, whose sister and brother perished in the Armenian genocide of 1915, died of cardiac arrest last month at Cambridge Hospital. He was 90.
His work will live on, friends said. "Paren's encyclopedia is a masterpiece, and I believe it is the only one of its kind," said Garbis Der-Yeghiayan, founder of Mashdots College in Glendale, Calif., and a student of Mr. Sanentz's when he taught languages and history at Aleppo College in Syria. "The guy was a passionate teacher and a walking encyclopedia."
Mr. Sanentz was fluent in Armenian, Arabic, English, French, and Turkish. He was also conversant in Kurdish, German, and Russian and was an expert in the ancient languages of the Hittites, Urartians, and Hurrians, his son said.
None of this made him stuffy, friends and former students said.
Leon Maksoudian, a former professor at California Polytechnic State University and a former junior high student of Mr. Sanentz, recalled that at recess, Mr. Sanentz would go out and play ball with his pupils.
"Paren was passionate about education, about passing on his personal experience to future generations," Vartan Oskanian, Armenia's former foreign minister, who attended schools in Boston, said in a phone interview from Yerevan, Armenia. "He represented a generation which lived a difficult, traumatic life, as genocide survivors and immigrants. He helped raise a generation of Armenians, prepared as aware, committed, world citizens."
Mr. Sanentz's book "The Cilician Armenia Ordeal" was published in 1989, based on 42 eyewitness accounts of survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923. His historical novel of the genocide, "Next Year Cilicia," was published in 2006.
Though he was well on in years, Mr. Sanentz's writing reflected someone much younger, said Stephen Kurkjian, a retired Boston Globe reporter and editor. "Paren's written word was so alive and so strong, as if written by a man half his age. What a genius!"
He was also versatile. In 2007, Mr. Sanentz wrote a book to hook children on arithmetic: "Guys, Santa is Retiring."
"Paren could relate to all ages of people," said Der-Yeghiayan.
Mr. Sanentz was, indeed, "an amazing fellow," according to a tribute by his 13-year-old grandson, Arman Sanentz of Amesbury. "From playing dominoes on the living room floor to teaching me the basics of becoming a good Armenian, my grandfather did a lot for me. He was an accomplished musician, both violin and mandolin, and would serenade me a lot."
Mr. Sanentz was born near Damascus, Syria, during the deportations of Armenians from Turkey, one of six children of Missak and Arousiag (Samuelian) Kazanjian of Marash, Cilicia.
"The exigencies of the genocide eventually led the surviving members of the family to refugee camps on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria," Ara said.
He attended Aleppo College, an American institution in the area. In 1949, he married Nazely Partamian. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Armenology and Hittite history at Haigazian College in Beirut in 1967. He earned his master's at the American University of Beirut in archeology and in the ancient history of the Middle Eastern peoples and languages, in 1969. He was accepted for his doctoral program at Oxford University but withdrew because of lack of funds.
For six years, Mr. Sanentz was a department head with the British-owned Iraq Petroleum Company in Syria. For 25 years he held faculty and administrative posts at schools in Syria and Lebanon.
The family came to this country in 1971 and settled in Watertown, where Mr. Sanentz and his wife became "pillars of the Armenian community," said Eva Medzorian of Watertown, a longtime friend.
"It was the gentle spirit of the man that impressed me," she said. "He had twinkly eyes and a genuine smile and always had the time for everyone."
In Massachusetts, Mr. Sanentz will be remembered as a fighter for a cause, said state Representative Peter Koutoujian., "Paren was an amazing and vast repository of history of the Armenian people. He wrote prolifically, not just about issues but about the Armenian villages and the people who lived in them."
He added: "What Paren did was to document the genocide for a world in which some still deny it happened."
In addition to his wife, his son, and grandson, Mr. Sanentz leaves another son, Shahe of Bedminster, N.J.; and a daughter, Lena of Wareham.
Services have been held.
The 40th Day of Requiem Prayers will be offered at St. James Armenian Church in Watertown on July 5 following the 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy.
Another observance is planned in California at another time.
Gloria Negri. Boston Globe. Boston, Mass.: Jun 10, 2009. pg. B.14
(c) The Boston Globe Jun 10, 2009
At 90, Paren Kazanjian Sanentz was busily working at his Macintosh computer in his Watertown home to finish his mammoth undertaking: a 1,000-page encyclopedia of the history of his beloved native Armenia, its people and places.
Author, historian, scholar, linguist, lifelong teacher, musician, and artist, he was engaged in what was a labor of love for two decades and almost 98 percent finished at the time of his death on May 23, said his son, Ara-Baruyr of Amesbury.
Mr. Sanentz, whose sister and brother perished in the Armenian genocide of 1915, died of cardiac arrest last month at Cambridge Hospital. He was 90.
His work will live on, friends said. "Paren's encyclopedia is a masterpiece, and I believe it is the only one of its kind," said Garbis Der-Yeghiayan, founder of Mashdots College in Glendale, Calif., and a student of Mr. Sanentz's when he taught languages and history at Aleppo College in Syria. "The guy was a passionate teacher and a walking encyclopedia."
Mr. Sanentz was fluent in Armenian, Arabic, English, French, and Turkish. He was also conversant in Kurdish, German, and Russian and was an expert in the ancient languages of the Hittites, Urartians, and Hurrians, his son said.
None of this made him stuffy, friends and former students said.
Leon Maksoudian, a former professor at California Polytechnic State University and a former junior high student of Mr. Sanentz, recalled that at recess, Mr. Sanentz would go out and play ball with his pupils.
"Paren was passionate about education, about passing on his personal experience to future generations," Vartan Oskanian, Armenia's former foreign minister, who attended schools in Boston, said in a phone interview from Yerevan, Armenia. "He represented a generation which lived a difficult, traumatic life, as genocide survivors and immigrants. He helped raise a generation of Armenians, prepared as aware, committed, world citizens."
Mr. Sanentz's book "The Cilician Armenia Ordeal" was published in 1989, based on 42 eyewitness accounts of survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923. His historical novel of the genocide, "Next Year Cilicia," was published in 2006.
Though he was well on in years, Mr. Sanentz's writing reflected someone much younger, said Stephen Kurkjian, a retired Boston Globe reporter and editor. "Paren's written word was so alive and so strong, as if written by a man half his age. What a genius!"
He was also versatile. In 2007, Mr. Sanentz wrote a book to hook children on arithmetic: "Guys, Santa is Retiring."
"Paren could relate to all ages of people," said Der-Yeghiayan.
Mr. Sanentz was, indeed, "an amazing fellow," according to a tribute by his 13-year-old grandson, Arman Sanentz of Amesbury. "From playing dominoes on the living room floor to teaching me the basics of becoming a good Armenian, my grandfather did a lot for me. He was an accomplished musician, both violin and mandolin, and would serenade me a lot."
Mr. Sanentz was born near Damascus, Syria, during the deportations of Armenians from Turkey, one of six children of Missak and Arousiag (Samuelian) Kazanjian of Marash, Cilicia.
"The exigencies of the genocide eventually led the surviving members of the family to refugee camps on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria," Ara said.
He attended Aleppo College, an American institution in the area. In 1949, he married Nazely Partamian. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Armenology and Hittite history at Haigazian College in Beirut in 1967. He earned his master's at the American University of Beirut in archeology and in the ancient history of the Middle Eastern peoples and languages, in 1969. He was accepted for his doctoral program at Oxford University but withdrew because of lack of funds.
For six years, Mr. Sanentz was a department head with the British-owned Iraq Petroleum Company in Syria. For 25 years he held faculty and administrative posts at schools in Syria and Lebanon.
The family came to this country in 1971 and settled in Watertown, where Mr. Sanentz and his wife became "pillars of the Armenian community," said Eva Medzorian of Watertown, a longtime friend.
"It was the gentle spirit of the man that impressed me," she said. "He had twinkly eyes and a genuine smile and always had the time for everyone."
In Massachusetts, Mr. Sanentz will be remembered as a fighter for a cause, said state Representative Peter Koutoujian., "Paren was an amazing and vast repository of history of the Armenian people. He wrote prolifically, not just about issues but about the Armenian villages and the people who lived in them."
He added: "What Paren did was to document the genocide for a world in which some still deny it happened."
In addition to his wife, his son, and grandson, Mr. Sanentz leaves another son, Shahe of Bedminster, N.J.; and a daughter, Lena of Wareham.
Services have been held.
The 40th Day of Requiem Prayers will be offered at St. James Armenian Church in Watertown on July 5 following the 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy.
Another observance is planned in California at another time.
Gloria Negri. Boston Globe. Boston, Mass.: Jun 10, 2009. pg. B.14
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