With deep sorrow, the Eastern Diocese mourns the loss of Joyce Sulahian, a beloved leader of the Armenian Church community, who passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 10. She was 79.
A native of Watertown, MA, Joyce was greatly admired throughout the Diocese, and especially in New York, where she lived and worked for the past half century. Joyce had a stellar, 30-year career at the United Nations, through which she travelled the world in a variety of influential capacities, working alongside leaders in the diplomatic and political arenas—and always proudly promoting her Armenian heritage and culture.
Joyce was a fixture of life at St. Vartan Cathedral since its earliest days, and was dearly loved by the Diocesan Center’s staff, clergy, and visitors over the course of six decades. During that time, the lovely music of her voice and her warm smile would be eagerly welcomed whenever Joyce’s presence graced the cathedral complex. But she also brought her wise counsel, attention to detail, and disciplined work ethic to numerous Diocesan activities and committees on which Joyce served as a volunteer.
In the early 2000s, Joyce brought these same virtues to her work at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, where she served for several years as administrative assistant to Patriarch Torkom Manoogian.
An obituary surveying Joyce’s life appears below. The funeral arrangements for Joyce Sulahian are as follows:
Diocesan Primate Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan will preside over the funeral service at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral (630 Second Ave., New York City), on Thursday, February 15, beginning at 12 noon.
The burial service will be conducted later, on Tuesday, February 20, in Watertown, MA. The city’s St. James Armenian Church will hold services at 11 a.m., followed by the burial at Ridgelawn Cemetery in Watertown, where Joyce’s parents are interred.
A memorial service will also be held at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem on Sunday, February 18.
In-lieu-of-flowers donations in Joyce’s memory may be made to the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (630 Second Ave., New York, NY 10016).
We offer prayers to our risen Lord Jesus Christ, to remember His devoted servant Joyce Lynne Sulahian, and receive her into His eternal kingdom. May He grant consolation and peace to Joyce’s loved ones and many friends and admirers in the days to come.
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Joyce Sulahian (1944-2024)
Joyce Lynne Sulahian was born and raised in Watertown, MA, and educated in the city’s public schools. Her parents were Garabed and Eugenie Sulahian. The Sulahian family was extremely active in the Armenian Church and community, going back to the family’s roots in Syria and Lebanon, and including several generations of clergy in the Apostolic and Protestant traditions. The family had taken up the same ethic of service when settling in the United States.
Joyce herself became intimately involved in the church at age 16, when she joined the choir at Watertown’s St. James Church. She attended Concordia College, in Bronxville, NY, and began a professional career in administrative positions, first for Harvard University’s Dean of Engineering, and subsequently for the head of the university’s Computer Laboratory and Statistics Department.
In 1969, Joyce took up a role with the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America in New York. These were the early days of the St. Vartan Cathedral Complex, and then-Primate Archbishop Torkom Manoogian was seeking out talented, committed individuals to fill key roles on his staff. Joyce joined as the administrative assistant to Archbishop Torkom, whom she had known since childhood as a close friend of the Sulahian family.
In 1974 she began a long career at the United Nations, first serving in the Department for Political and Security Council Affairs, and later promoted to a post in the Department for Disarmament Affairs, where she spent 15 years in the office of the UN’s Undersecretary General. In that post, she traveled extensively throughout the world, organizing and administering international conferences on disarmament-related topics, side-by-side with world experts in that crucial field as well as leading government officials of the day.
Joyce completed her 30-year UN career in the Office of General Assembly Affairs, where she took on the demanding, consequential role of creating and administering the speaking roster for the UN General Assembly: the annual gathering of the world’s presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers that meets in New York each autumn.
Throughout this entire period, Joyce Sulahian was deeply involved in the mission of the Eastern Diocese, volunteering to serve on countless committees, offering valuable counsel on church and community activities, and often acting as an indispensable liaison between the Armenian Church and the diplomatic world.
In 1997, Joyce made her first trip to Jerusalem, and it proved a turning point in her service to the Armenian Church and people. Several years earlier, Archbishop Torkom had been elected as the 96th Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, and as in the early days of his tenure as Diocesan Primate, he needed dedicated, trustworthy souls to assist him in his efforts. Joyce would visit the Holy City several more times through her work for the UN, before taking a year-long leave of absence from that organization to work at the Jerusalem Patriarchate as Patriarch Torkom’s administrative assistant.
In 2004, following her official retirement from the United Nations, Joyce returned to Jerusalem to work with the Patriarch for another two years. Having worked most of her life among diplomats, Joyce now became an unofficial ambassador herself, promoting and supporting the age-old Armenian presence in Jerusalem and the work of its greatest institution. Her association with the Patriarchate continued into the tenure of Patriarch Nourhan Manougian, a friend of Joyce’s for over 50 years.
For the past 17 years, Joyce resided primarily in New York, punctuated by intermittent periods spent in Florida enjoying her condominium overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Her death on February 10, 2024, brought to a close an admirable life of humble and honorable service, generosity, and faith. She will be dearly missed by the many people throughout the city—and across the world—who valued Joyce Sulahian as a family member, colleague, and friend.