Gerard Cafesjian Dies

He was a self-made man who rose through the ranks at West Publishing, starting as a legal editor in New York City. He was transferred to the home office in St. Paul, Minn. He eventually became executive vice president. At West, he also conceived of and started the West Legal Directory and a well-known program, “Art and the Law,” which earned him and West numerous awards.

Cafesjian retired from West Publishing when it was sold to Thompson Publishing in 1996.

After attending to his family needs, Cafesjian established the Cafesjian Family Foundation. Through that foundation he devoted millions of dollars to Armenia on relief projects including renewable energy, a TV station, a newspaper, contributed to the clearing of land mines by specially-trained dogs, founded a bank, insurance company, and supplied the resources for many other projects. If any of the projects were to prove successful, the profits were to remain in Armenia for further development.

He received accolades and recognition from both the United States and Armenia institutions, including the Ellis Island Award in 2000.

Cafesjian completely renovated the Cascade site in downtown Yerevan. The Cascade was a crumbling Soviet structure of epic proportions. He opened the Cafesjian Center for the Arts at the Cascade in 2009. The museum enjoys a world-class sculpture garden with works by Botero, Flanagan, Chadwick, Plensa and Lalanne, to name a few.

Toward the end of his life, he and the CFF became embroiled in a protracted suit regarding the proposed Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial in Washington, DC, that never got off the ground.