Nobel Prize laureate Ardem Patapoutian's father, Lebanese Armenian writer, translator, and playwright Sarkis Patapoutian (Sarkis Vahakn), has died in the United States at the age of 98, Arevelk.am reports.

Sarkis Patapoutian was living in the Armenian Ararat Home for the elderly in Los Angeles.

He is the author of numerous books, including a novel about Arshile Gorky.

Sarkis Patapoutian was born in Lebanon, and had lived in the United States since 1987.

In 2008, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II had awarded Sarkis Patapoutian the Order of Saint Sahak-Saint Mesrop. And in 2017, then Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan had awarded him the William Saroyan Medal of the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia.

In parallel with literature, Sarkis Patapoutian had showed interest in cinema and theater, too. In 1958-1959, he had published the New Cinema art magazine in Beirut, an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of the Armenian diaspora.