Jirair Hovnanian

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Jirair S. Hovnanian (1927 – August 14, 2007) was an Armenian Iraqi-American home builder based in New Jersey. Hovnanian's buiness developed and built over 6,000 houses throughout South Jersey.[1]

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[edit] Early life

Jirair S. Hovnanian was born in Kirkuk, Iraq in 1927.[1] His parents, who were ethnic Armenians had fled to Iraq in 1915 to escape persecution in other parts of the Ottoman Empire.[1] Hovnanian's father, Stepan K. Hovnanian, owned and operated a construction company based in Baghdad.[1] Hovnanian was one of six children in his family. He attended a Jesuit high school in Kirkuk.[1]

The Hovnanian family, including Jirair, immigrated to the United States in 1948. The family settled in North Philadelphia.[1] Hovnanian spoke very little English when he arrived in the U.S.

Hovnanian married his wife, Elizabeth Vosbikian. Her family had created the Quickie Manufacturing Corporation, which manufactured popular products such as the Quickie broom and mops.[1]

Hovnanian graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in business.[1]

[edit] Career

Jirair Hovnanian and his three brothers founded a family construction company, Hovnanian Brothers Corp., in 1959.[2] In 1964 Hovnanian split off from his brothers' company in order to found his own construction business, J.S. Hovnanian & Sons, of Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey.[2] Over the next 40 years under Hovnanian's leadership, J.S. Hovnanian & Sons built over 6,000 throughout South Jersey, mainly in Burlington County, Camden County, and Gloucester County.[2] (One of Jirair's brothers, Kevork Hovnanian, would later found Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., a publicly traded firm based in Red Bank, New Jersey.[2] Jirair's and Kevork's prospective companies are not related professionally.)

Jirair Hovnanian championed New Jersey state laws in the 1970s to protect home buyers from unscrupulous builders and realtors. The laws later enacted included the Municipal Land Use Law, the 10 year Home Owner's Warranty Program, and the Uniform Construction Code.[1]

Hovnanian and his firm, J.S. Hovnanian & Sons, had participated in the ABC reality show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and completed the project just 10 days before his death in August 2007.[1] Hovnanian's company built a home for free in Pennsauken, New Jersey, for the Marrero family, which was made up of Victor Marrero and his five sons. The home, which was built in just 96 hours, was completed for the show and the Marrero family, on August 4, 2007.[1] Hovnanian's family later told the Philadelphia Inquirer that participating in the show was one of his dreams. Victor Marrero, the recipient of the episode's new home built by Hovnanian, told the newspaper following Hovnanian's death, "Mr. Hovnanian gave me and my sons a lifeline. I will love him all my life. He was quiet and always in the back. He was not a showoff. He told me 'I know you and your boys will be all right.' He threw so much love at me."[1]

Hovnanian served as president of the New Jersey Builders Association and the life long director of the National Association of Home Builders.[1]

[edit] Interests

Jirair Hovnanian participated in a number of personal interest and philantropic causes throughout his life.

Hovnanian and two scientists teamed up to found Nature's Wonder, a Philadelphia metropolitan area company which extracts a product from peat in order to encourage plant growth.[1] Hovnanian was, himself, a champion grower of roses.

Hovnanian founded the Center for the Advancement of Natural Discoveries using Light Emission (CANDLE) in Armenia, his family's homeland before his parents fled to Iraq.[1] The center, which is located in Yerevan, Armenia, "generates beams of ultraviolet light for protein crystallography."[1] It helps to employ Armenian scientists who would otherwise have to move abroad in order to find work.

He was also a supporter of the Burlington County Boy Scout Council. In order to help future students, Hovnanian founded the Jirair S. Hovnanian Scholarship Fund.

Hovnanian received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2006 from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Inc.[1]

[edit] Death

Jirair Hovnanian died of heart failure on August 14, 2007, at his home in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey. He was pronounced dead at Virtua West Jersey Hospital Marlton in Marlton, New Jersey,[1] just ten days after completing the episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. His funeral was held at St. Gregory's Armenian Apostolic Church in Philadelphia. Hovnanian was buried in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.[1]

Jirair Hovnanian was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and his sons, Stephen and Peter, as well as two great-grandchildren, three brothers, and two sisters.[1]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Sims, Gayle Nonan. "An entrepreneur's final act of generosity", Philadelphia Inquirer, 2007-08-16. Retrieved on 2007-09-16. 
  2. ^ a b c d Sims, Gayle Nonan. "J.S. Hovnanian, New Jersey builder, dies", Philadelphia Inquirer, 2007-08-15. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.