Vartan Hartunian

Rev. Vartan Hartunian, 88, whose faith remained firm despite the horrors he saw as a child during the Turkish Genocide of his fellow Armenians, died Tuesday of complications of Guillain-Barre syndrome in St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Brighton.

The spiritual leader of First Armenian Church in Belmont from 1959 until his retirement in 1998. Rev. Hartunian spoke often of the Armenian Genocide and translated and published his father's memoir "Neither to Laugh nor to Weep" which documents the horrors he and his family personally experienced during the Genocide.