The Kessab Educational Association of Los Angeles has named entrepreneur and philanthropist Manas Boujikian Man of the Year, Asbarez reported.

Boujikian was born in Kessab, Syria, in 1932, the son of a patriotic Armenian. His father, Hagop “Quasir” Boujikian, left a comfortable life in the United States in 1915 to return to Adana to defend his beleaguered kinsmen. He then found a new home in Kessab, married Bayzar Mashikian and had five children, one of them Manas.

The family migrated to the United States in 1954, and Manas Boujikian went to college, earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cal State Los Angeles and taking graduate courses at USC and UCLA.

Though he’s an engineer and a farmer, Boujikian, like his father, has dedicated his life to the Armenian Cause. He is one of the founders of the grass roots organization ANCA and has been the driving force behind the success of the ANCA, including a significant donation to the purchase of the ANCA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. Active in the ARF and Armenian communities from Fresno to Glendale and to his home town of Torrance, Boujikian is a humble servant of the Armenian Cause.

Boujikian lives in Torrance with Donalee, his wife of 55 years, 7 children, 21 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.