Steven Boghos Derounian | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 3rd district |
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In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965 |
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Preceded by | Frank J. Becker |
Succeeded by | Lester L. Wolff |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 2nd district |
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In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1963 |
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Preceded by | Leonard W. Hall |
Succeeded by | James R. Grover, Jr. |
Personal details | |
Born |
Sofia, Bulgaria |
April 6, 1918
Died | April 17, 2007 Austin, Texas, United States |
(aged 89)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Emily Ann Kennard Derounian |
Alma mater |
New York University Fordham University Law School |
Profession |
Attorney Professor |
Steven Boghos Derounian (April 6, 1918 – April 17, 2007) was a Republican Congressman of Armenian-American descent.
Derounian was born in Sofia, Bulgaria to Armenian parents Boghos Derounian and Eliza Aprahamian. When he was three, his family left Bulgaria with his two other brothers (one of whom was the journalist Avedis Boghos Derounian, better known as John Roy Carlson) to the United States and settled in Mineola, New York. He attended the public schools and graduated from New York University in 1938 and from Fordham University Law School in 1942.
He was admitted to the New York bar in 1942 and began practice in Mineola the same year. Derounian entered the United States Army as a private in July 1942 and graduated from officers school as an Infantry officer and was assigned to the 327th Infantry. He served overseas from October 1944 to March 1946 and separated from the service as a captain in May 1946. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with oak leaf.
He was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-third and to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1965). A staunch conservative and Barry Goldwater supporter, Derounian was narrowly defeated in New York's Third Congressional District on Long Island during the LBJ landslide of 1964 Democrat Lester Wolff won 96,503 (50.7%) votes to Derounian's 93,883 (49.3%). In 1966 Derounian defeated future CIA Director William Casey in the Republican primary, but was again defeated by Rep. Wolff in November, though by an even more narrow tally of 81,959 (50.3%) to 81,122 (49.7%). Thereafter, he served as justice of the New York Supreme Court, 1969-1981. He retired to Austin, Texas, saying "I think New York has gotten a little too crowded. Austin is an attractive, educational city." Derounian was additionally a professor of law at the University of Texas.