Gerard Cafesjian

Gerard Cafesjian (Armenian: Ջերարդ Գաֆէսճեան) is an Armenian-American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Cafesjian Family Foundation (CFF) and has contributed considerable sums to many philanthropic causes.

He earned a degree in Economics from Hunter College. Then he started out as a legal editor, and later became owner of the West Publishing Corporation, (before it was bought by the Thomson Corporation). He was awarded the Business and the Arts Award.

Cafesjian is presently a key shareholder in CS Media, a media house that includes the Armenia TV Company, ArmNews around-the-clock Armenian news station, 107FM radio station and TV5 music station as well as a music and publishing house.

The list of charitable donations include:

• $17.5 million in donations and pledges toward buying a property to establish a museum in Washington for the Armenian Genocide in Washington D. C., named Armenian Genocide Museum of America run by the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial, Inc. (AGM&M).
• Building a Cultural and Art Museum in Yerevan, the Gerard L. Cafesjian Museum of Art.^[1]
• Restoration of a dismantled historic Carousel for Como Park Minnesota
• Expansion of premises of a museum at the Scottsdale Arizona center for the Arts.

He has also supported alternative energy projects in Armenia.

He is currently retired and lives in Florida, where he still manages personal investments and contributes to charities. The Armenian Assembly of America honored Cafesjian as a Life Trustee at a 2002 National Gala Banquet.

In the spring of 2004, Cafesjian bought a 33rd-floor apartment at 50 Central Park South in Manhattan for $12 million. The apartment was later listed for sale with an asking price of $18.95 million.^[2][3]

See also

• Gerard L. Cafesjian Museum of Art

References

• Le Monde diplomatique, January 2004 – Armenia rebuilt by its diaspora

External links

• Cascade Capital Holdings
• Cafesjian Museum Foundation