Younes Nazarian

Early life

Younes Nazarian was born in Iran. His father died when he was three years old, shortly after the brothers learned their father conceived a daughter. Sarriah Nazarian is the youngest of the three and only blood related to the Nazarian brothers paternally. After losing his fortune amassed as a construction contractor during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, he immigrated to the United States with his brother Izak Parviz Nazarian, settling in Beverly Hills, California.

Career

In 1980, borrowing against monies owed to their confiscated Iranian business by European companies, Younes and his brother were able to purchase precision tool manufacturer, Standard Tool & Die (Stadco). Younes believed that Standard Tool would benefit from the U.S. space shuttle program. Younes, his brother, and his nephew-in-law Neil Kadisha then bought into Omninet, a technology company that had developed a wireless protocol that enabled trucking companies to keep track of their vehicles. Recognizing its potential, he presented the technology to Qualcomm founder Irwin M. Jacobs who offered Younes a major stake in Qualcomm in exchange for Omninet. He later served on its Board of Directors.

He serves as the Chairman of Nazarian Enterprises, a diversified investment vehicle. He is the co-owner of Stadco, a manufacturer of aerospace products. He serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors of ANG, Inc., a manufacturer of military products headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Philanthropy

Nazarian is the founder of the Younes & Soraya Family Foundation and its Israeli sister organization, the Ima Foundation.

Nazarian is the former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the Haifa Foundation. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Sapir Academic College, where the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Academic Library is named in his honor. The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Pre-Academic Library Of the Ima Foundation at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is also named in his honor. In 2007, he donated $119,000 to the University of Haifa in the form of 119 scholarships of $1,000 to commemorate the Israeli casualties of the 2006 Lebanon War. That same year, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the university. Additionally, he serves as a member of the "Public Standing from abroad" on its Board of Governors. In Mid 2017, Younes donated $17,000,000 to the Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge. The performing arts center will have a name change in honor of Younes' wife, Soraya (it will also be known as "The Soraya")

Nazarian endowed the Beit Midrash Fellowship at the Milken Community High School in Bel Air. He has also endowed the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Nazarian Pavilion in the Doheny Library on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC) was also built as a result of a charitable gift from Nazarian. In 2017, Nazarian and his wife donated $17 million to the California State University, Northridge, where the Valley Performing Arts Centre was renamed the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts.

Nazarian is the former Chairman of the Habib Levy Cultural & Educational Foundation. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Television Network. He has served at the Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Westwood.

Nazarian serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Friends of IDF, a fundraising non-profit organization for the Israel Defense Forces.

Nazarian was a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2011.

Personal life

He is married to Soraya Nazarian, a sculptor. They have two sons David Nazarian and Sam Nazarian, and two daughters, Shulamit Nazarian and Sharon Nazarian.