Professor Richard Hovannisian passed away Monday in Los Angeles, at the age of 90, informed the press service of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS).

He was a world-renowned historian, a national academician of Armenia, the founder and first holder of the Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA, later named in his honor, and author of the monumental four-volume work The Republic of Armenia and multiple books on the Armenian Genocide and the historical homeland of the Armenian people.

Richard Hovannisian was the father of Raffi Hovannisian, the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the leader of the Heritage Party.