Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
M. Victoria Karagozian Kazan died October 25, 1997, at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York. She was 86. With her husband, Henry S. Kazan, Mrs. Kazan established major funding for the study of Armenian history and culture at California State University, Fresno. Mrs. Kazan was born November 28, 1910, in New York City and moved to Portland, Oregon, with her family in 1911. She returned to New York City in 1928 and attended Hunter college in New York and was an honor student. She met Henry S. Kazan in September 1930, at an AGBU &Junior League meeting. They were married December 24, 1935. From 1929 to 1945, Mrs. Kazan was employed at the United Hospital fund where she was an accountant and later the assistant controller.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Kazan resided in Juno Beach Florida with a summer home in East Quoque, New York . She is survived by her husband, Henry S. Kazan. Mrs. Kazan will be cremated and interred in New York. A Memorial Service will be held in the spring.
In April 1996, the Kazans established the Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Professorship in Modern Armenian and Immigration History at Fresno Sate. The professorship is designed to provide support for teaching in Modern Armenian History, including the New Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, immigration history and genocide history. The professorship was established with a gift from the Kazans of more than $300,000.
In July 1997 the Kazans made a gift of their East Quoque, New York, home to Fresno State. Proceeds from the sale of the home will be used to establish the M. Victoria Karagozian Kazan Fund in Armenian Studies. The fund will, in part, provide scholarships for students who take select Armenian studies and history courses taught by Henry Kazan Professors. The fund will also provide general operating support for the Armenian Studies Program and funding for the M. Victoria Karagozian Monograph and Lecture Series at the university.