DURHAM, N.C. — Longtime Duke sociology faculty member Edward Ashod Tiryakian passed away peacefully on February 1 at his home in Durham. He was 95 years old.
Born on August 6, 1929, the only son of Yervent Tiryakian and Keghinée Agathon, both diaspora Armenians, he was born in Bronxville, NY, and spent his early years in Nice, France. He matriculated with the Princeton University class of 1952, graduating summa cum laude majoring in sociology. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University in 1956 under the direction of Talcott Parsons and Pitirim O. Sorokin, the world’s two most renowned sociologists of their era. He met the woman who was to be his wife for 72 years, Josefina Cintron while both were students at Harvard, marrying in 1953.
He and Josefina were Fullbright Scholars researching in the Philippines in 1957 and upon his return he began teaching at Princeton before accepting a faculty position at Harvard. He joined the Department of Sociology at Duke in 1965 and immediately became a beloved professor among students, colleagues and administrators, reaching emeritus status in 2004. He continued teaching through 2020 as part of Duke’s Graduate Studies Program.
- Tiryakian’s 60-year academic career made unparalleled contributions in multiple areas publishing works on the life and work of his academic hero, the ground-breaking 19th century French sociologist Emile Durkheim; existentialism; apartheid; religion; modernity; African societies, and nationalism. He served as chair of Duke’s Sociology and Anthropology department, and as director of Duke’s Center for International Studies, where he worked tirelessly with his wife to strengthen Duke’s international presence.
He went on to serve as president of the International Society of French-Speaking Sociologists and of the American Sociological Association History of Sociology section. He received honorary doctorates from the Sorbonne, as well as Université Paris Descartes. He continuously attended and often chaired sociological conferences around the world and felt strongly that academic cooperation was a bridge to solve ethnic and national differences.
One of his most cherished Duke moments was his role in helping to resolve the student takeover of the Allen Building in February 1969. It was a labor of love helping the students about whom he cared deeply having their concerns heard by the university in support of its mission to educate and to arrive at a peaceful resolution in very unsettling times. Decades later, Tiryakian taught a popular class on the turbulent year 1968 which brought to bear the vast social changes happening globally in that period.
Dr. Tiryakian donated his professional papers to Penn State University, which has become a repository for the original documents of sociologists who have made a difference. In 2021, Dr. Tiryakian donated his professional library to the Sociology Department of Yerevan State University in Armenia, which created a dedicated wing in its library to honor him. He was recognized in the US Congressional Record for his accomplishments both on behalf of Armenia and academia.
