Mugar family

The Mugar family of Greater Boston, Massachusetts, is a prominent Armenian-American family in New England business and in philanthropy, both in the United States and in Armenia. The best known member of the family is Stephen P. Mugar, (1901-1982), who founded the Star Market chain of super markets on which the family fortune was based. In its May, 2004, issue, Boston Magazine ranked the Mugar family sixth in its list of the 50 most influential Boston families.^[1]

Family origin

The first family members to arrive in Boston were brothers, Charles and Martin Mugar (shortened from Mugardichian), who came from Kharpert, Turkey, in 1904. They were joined in 1906 by their brothers, Arthur, Gregory and Sarkis Mugar, along with Sarkis Mugar's wife and three children, one of whom was Stephen P. Mugar.^[2]

Prominent family members

• Stephen P. Mugar, (1901-1982) founder of the Star Market chain
• John M. Mugar, (1914-2007), son of Martin, President and Chairman of the Star Market chain.
• David G. Mugar, Stephen's son, also became a Star Market executive and is now a prominent businessman and philanthropist in his own right.
• Carolyn Mugar Stephen's daughter, activist, started a reforestation project in Armenia and is the executive director of Farm Aid and is the president of the Armenian Assembly of America.

Philanthropies

The major objects of Mugar family philanthropic giving have been:

• Greater Boston educational institutions, especially the so-called "subway" or "commuter" colleges and universities, because they were the first to welcome young Armenian-Americans and others with limited resources and social standing and because they lacked the vast endowments of schools such as Harvard.
• Hospitals, in particular Cape Cod Hospital, and
• Armenian causes in the United States and overseas in Armenia and Lebanon.

References

1. ^ The Fifty Families (Part 1) - Boston Magazine
2. ^ MIRROR_SPECTATOR February 12, 1999.htm

External links

• Armenia Tree Project
• Armenian Assembly of America