Mr. Jivan Tabibian, political theorist, diplomat, teacher, government affairs consultant, design and cinema consultant, food critic and restaurateur, cigar aficionado, systems designer and the Civilitas Foundation honorary board member, passed away in Vienna, Austria, on July 31, 2009.

Mr. Tabibian, whose rich career in academia, international organizations, government and business took him all over the world, had been for the last decade, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He retired from that post in 2008. For most of that period, he was also Armenia’s ambassador to Hungary, Austria, Czech and Slovakia.

However, during his decade-long tenure, Mr. Tabibian became a mainstay of that organization’s Permanent Council – a weekly conclave of the ambassadors of the transatlantic organization’s 56 member states. Week in, week out, his cogent analyses and commentaries on global events of international consequence, were more than the position of the Republic of Armenia. As many in the organization said, they served as food for thought and guidance for the organization’s policies and planning.

Born in 1937 in Lebanon, he was educated in the Armenian schools of Beirut, and at the American University of Beirut. He moved to the US in 1959 and attended Princeton University where he completed his doctoral studies. He also studied at the Sorbonne and at Centre d’Etudes Diplomatiques et Strategiques in Paris.

His academic appointments included the University of California, Los Angeles (Political Science, Middle Eastern Studies, Urban Design and Community Psychiatry), the University of Southern California (Urban and Regional Planning, Social Policy), the California Institute of the Arts (Design Theory), Wake Forest University (Political Theory and International Politics.) Also, he was founder and director of the program of the School of Management and Strategic Studies at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla, California.

His planning and public policy consultation work had taken him to international assignments in Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and throughout Japan. His first trip to Armenia was in 1963.

The main focus of his projects in Armenia were urban, regional and economic development.

After Armenia’s independence in 1991, Mr. Tabibian collaborated on various socio-economic development programs.  His activities centered around issues of energy, health care, economic development and political-diplomatic affairs. He was part of the initial team of experts to assess the energy needs of the Republic of Armenia and develop a master energy strategy. He was critically involved in the promotion and reactivation of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant.

His work in the Diaspora extended from being a founding member and officer of ARPA (Advanced Research and Planning in Armenia), an early associate of the Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation, as well as a commentator for Armenian International Magazine.

Beyond his work in the Armenian community, he was a noted design commentator and cinema consultant. He worked with the International Design Conference in Aspen, as well as Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute of Film and Television.

Following his retirement from the post of ambassador, Mr. Tabibian joined the Honorary Board of the Civilitas Foundation. Mr. Vartan Oskanian, President of the Board of the Civilitas, was the foreign minister who invited Mr. Tabibian to represent Armenia in Vienna. “Jivan’s counsel, wisdom, humor, insights were invaluable and incomparable. He will be missed for many reasons, chief among them his ability to see Armenian issues and global issues with equal sharpness, and his capacity to identify and explain the real, fundamental issues at the core of each.”

He leaves behind his wife Isabella Cho Tabibian. He is also survived by a son, Jivan Jr., a granddaughter Stephanie, a daughter Marie, his sisters– Olympia Jebejian and Ani Hagopian – and their families in the US, as well as countless friends, students and colleagues around the world who will miss him sorely.

The memorial service will take place at the Yerevan St. Hovannes Church in Kond at 4 pm on Friday August 7. The interment will follow at the cemetery in Khor Virab.

Condolences will be accepted by the Armenian Embassy in Vienna ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or by the Civilitas Foundation in Yerevan ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

At the family’s request, in lieu of flowers donations will support Jivan R. Tabibian Fellowships at the Civilitas Foundation. (Yerevan Address: One Northern Avenue, Suite 30, Yerevan, Armenia. US Address: 315 Arden avenue, Suite 1, Glendale, California, 91203.)

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