Ambassador Rouben Shougarian Has Passed Away

BOSTON, MA — Former Ambassador Rouben Shougarian, has passed away in Boston after suffering a stroke. He was 58 years old.

“It is with great sorrow that we announce that our loving father and husband, Ambassador Rouben Shougarian, PhD, passed away peacefully this morning in Boston, Massachusetts after suffering a stroke last week,” the Ambassador’s son Narek Shougarian said in a Facebook post.

Rouben Shougarian was a career diplomat who served as Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister (1999-2005), Ambassador to Italy, Spain and Portugal (2005-2008), and Armenia’s first Ambassador to the United States (1993-1999).

He also served as a senior staffer for the Armenian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs (1991), and a senior foreign policy aide and spokesperson for President Levon Ter-Petrossian (1992). He held the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia

Shougarian moved to Boston in 2008 and worked as Professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Ruben Shougarian is survived by his wife Lilit Karapetian-Shougarian and sons Narek, Tigran and Haik.