Aso O. TAVITIAN: PHILANTHROPIST, COLLECTOR, CONNOISSEUR

Assadour (“Aso”) Ohanes Tavitian (1940–2020) was born in Sofia, Bulgaria to parents who were survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide; he would remain a passionate supporter of Armenian heritage and culture throughout his lifetime. Tavitian immigrated to the United States in 1961 as a Cold War refugee and received a full scholarship to attend Columbia University in New York City, where he supported himself by, among myriad day jobs, driving a taxi cab—a profession he remarked upon with pride. Tavitian earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering and pursued a PhD in nuclear physics. He was one of the first employees of Syncsort Inc., a pioneering software company that played a pivotal role in the emerging computer industry, and he would ultimately serve as the company’s CEO.

In the wake of professional success, Tavitian immediately turned his attention to helping others. In 1995 he established the Tavitian Foundation to provide scholarships to students of Armenian and Bulgarian heritage, and to sponsor projects that focused on the development of the Republic of Armenia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Working with Tufts University, Tavitian established a series of six-month special training programs for mid-level employees in various Armenian ministries and governmental institutions. Some 350 Tavitian Scholars—each of whom Tavitian met personally—have graduated from this program. Tavitian was awarded Armenia’s Prime Minister’s Medal in 2012 and the Order of Honor in 2017 in recognition of his support for the nation and its people. Through his foundation, Tavitian extended his philanthropy to a variety of cultural and higher education programs and institutions. In addition to his service on the Clark’s Board of Trustees from 2008–2012, Tavitian served on the Board of Trustees of both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C., and the Frick Collection, New York City; was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York City; and was a member of the Visiting Committee and the Friends Group for the Department of European Paintings at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other roles.

All while leading a thriving business and devoting himself to philanthropic causes, Tavitian was an avid art collector and earned a reputation as one of the world’s most discerning connoisseurs. He delighted in sharing his collections, housed between New York City and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with students, art enthusiasts, curators, scholars, art dealers, and friends—people of all sorts who expressed interest in the power of art. Before his untimely death in 2020, Tavitian selected the Clark to be the repository of his enviable collection. He intended for these exquisite objects to be accessible to the public, with the goal of bringing people together before beautiful works of art to revel in centuries of shared human experience.