The Diaspora's Walking Encyclopedia

The Diaspora’s "Walking Encyclopedia"

Lragir.am

https://www.lragir.am/2022/07/13/728438

July 13, 2022

At the age of 95, Charles Garabed Der Kasbarian, a well-known Diaspora-Armenian intellectual and national figure, or as many affectionately called him, "Uncle Garabed" said goodbye to his earthly life. Der Kasbarian was loved and appreciated for his Armenian way of thinking, humor and musical taste.

He was born on May 5, 1927, in the state of New Jersey, in the family of Hakob Der Kasbarian and Lucia Kazanjian, survivors of the Armenian Genocide.

The US "Ardzagang" Armenian television company has thoroughly covered the life and activities of the famous Diaspora Armenian intellectual.

For 33 years, he was a columnist in the weekly newspaper "Armenian Weekly", "Haykakan Lratu", wrote articles, made sense of his life and those around him, raising topics of Armenian culture, music and religion. Many called him a walking encyclopedia.

According to the "Ardzagang" Armenian television company, Kasbarian made an active contribution to the activities of Armenian churches and various Armenian organizations. He was a member of the Armenian National Chorus directed by Maestro Mihran Toumajan, one of the five famous students of Komitas. Der Kasbarian was one of the founders of the NJ Church of Saints Vartanantz, and he also made significant contributions to the work of the "Nareg" Armenian Saturday School, helping to educate Armenian children. His support was also invaluable to the Armenian Youth Olympic Federation of New Jersey. Der Kasbarian also sang in the Hamazkayin choir and performed in the "Nayiri" Western Armenian dance ensemble of New York. As they say, a talented person is talented everywhere.

The children continue the Armenian traditions: Lucine Kasbarian is a writer and publicist, John Antranig Kasbarian is the director of development works of "Tufenkian" Foundation.

The "Armenian Weekly" weekly newspaper also made an extensive reference to Der Kasbarian’s activities. A number of Diaspora Armenian structures have expressed their sympathy.

During the memorial service, Reverend Mesrob Lakissian announced that he declared Uncle Garabed "Uncle of all Armenians". Der Kasbarian preserved the dialect, cuisine and humor of his ancestral Dikranagerd, creating such works as "The Folk Language Book of Dikranagerd", the Armenian cookbook "The Mystique of Dikranagerd " and the one-act play "Oyin Mi Tavli" exclusively in the Dikranagerd dialect, a language which will disappear in our lifetime. Der Kasbarian also prepared the "Dictionary of Armenian Surnames", paying special attention to Diaspora Armenian surnames with Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Kurdish influences.

You can find those works here: http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/C.K._Garabed