Jack Bousian's Obituary
Jack Bousian Obituary
Jack Bousian of Hayward, the San Francisco Bay Area’s oldest World War II veteran and oldest living artist, passed away of natural causes at 105 years old on October 22, 2025. Jack was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, friend to many, and Armenian-American community member.
A California native, Jack was born on January 14, 1920 in Sanger in Fresno County, where many Armenian families had settled after escaping the Armenian Genocide. His grandparents were killed in the Genocide, but his parents, Boghos (Paul) and Zarouhie (Rose) Bousian narrowly escaped, coming to the United States.
When Jack was five, he moved with his parents and older brother Lee to the Bay Area, where he grew up during the Great Depression, working as a child in his father’s grocery store to help make ends meet.
Jack graduated with honors from the California College of the Arts in 1942. Immediately after graduation, he was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army in World War II. When the Army discovered that he had graphic design skills, they assigned him to draft maps for the war effort with Company B, 660th Engineers Topographical Battalion, stationed in London. The unit’s main task was to create the maps for the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy. Due to the secrecy of this work, Jack and other servicemen were put in isolation while they worked on the maps. After the D-Day invasion, the company designed maps for the Allies’ movements through France and across the Rhine River into Germany. With the liberation of Paris in 1944, the company moved its base to Paris, where they focused on mapping Bavaria and northern Austria. The company continued its mapping work right up until V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day). During his time in the Army, Jack made many lifelong friends with the men in his unit.
After the war, Jack pursued a career in advertising. In the 1950s and 1960s, known as the “golden era” of advertising, he worked in New York and San
Francisco as one of the original “Mad Men” (“Madison Avenue men”) of advertising. During this time, he worked as an art director at the industry-leading firm BBDO.
Jack married his wife Barbara Boyajian Bousian at St. John Armenian Church in San Francisco in 1965. They lived on Diamond Heights, where they had their son Mark. In 1970, they moved to the charming coastal town of Westport, Conn., where they had their daughter Adrienne.
Jack started his own graphic design business, Graphics One Associates, in Stamford, Conn., and worked there as Creative Director in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jack matured as an artist in the 1980s and was a prolific Abstract Expressionist painter and sculptor of bold and fascinating pieces. He explored figurative and nonfigurative artwork through acrylic painting, mixed media collages, pen and ink drawings, and wooden sculptures. As trends moved toward Pop Art and Minimalism, he remained inspired by the expressionist tendencies of controlled spontaneity, bold brushstrokes, freeform composition and unconventional materials. True to form, when asked what his paintings meant, Jack usually replied, “whatever you want them to.”
Jack and Barbara moved back to California in 1988, settling in the Central Valley, where Jack became a grape grower. In 2004, they returned to the San Francisco Bay area, settling in Hayward to be closer to their daughter Adrienne, husband Alex, and granddaughter Sophia, their pride and joy.
Jack began jogging daily in the 1950s, before it was popular. He ran every morning, even during snowy winters in Conn., and he continued to do so until he was 100 years old. After that, he switched to walking one to two miles daily without walking aids up until a few months before he passed. Jack strongly believed that vigorous daily exercise is the key to maintaining good physical and mental health.
Until a few months before he passed, Jack would accompany Mark on trips to Trader Joe’s, the public library, and other local spots. He attracted a lot of
public attention on these trips, as people in the community knew his age and were amazed whenever they saw him walking out and about.
Jack continued to make regular visits to his doctors and dentist until he passed. The staff in the offices were amazed when they saw him walk in the door, and they wanted to know what his secret was.
In recent years, with more time available to him, Jack had been especially active with his painting. During the COVID pandemic, he quarantined at home in Hayward and produced over 400 unique pieces. When he was unable to get art supplies during the early stages of the pandemic, he did whatever it took to continue creating art in his backyard “art laboratory,” often on the back of paper grocery bags. In the last years of his life, Jack created a groundbreaking series of mixed media compositions depicting the horrific and emotional story of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, juxtaposing words of the Turkish perpetrators with graphic photographs and emotion-laden abstracts.
Jack’s art works have been displayed at the California College of the Arts alumni exhibit, Gump’s San Francisco, Fresno State University, Silvermine Guild Arts Center in Connecticut, Western Advertising Show, Armenian Museum of America in Massachusetts, and more. In 2024, the California College of the Arts honored him as their oldest living alumnus at the age of 104.
Jack was a devoted father and grandfather who always put family first. He was hardworking, disciplined, understated, caring, energetic, funny, and unfailingly positive and upbeat. Jack was a member of the Armenian Trex Fraternity Golden Gate Chapter, St. Vartan Armenian Apostolic Church in Oakland, and St. John Armenian Apostolic Church in San Francisco.
Jack was predeceased by both parents and his brother Lee. He is survived by his wife of 60 years Barbara Bousian and son Mark Bousian, both of Hayward; daughter Adrienne Bousian, son-in-law Alex Long, and granddaughter Sophia of Berkeley; brother-in-law David Boyajian of Belmont, MA; three nieces and their families; and many extended family members. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jack’s name may be made to the Armenian Trex Fraternity Golden Gate Chapter, St. Vartan Armenian Church in Oakland, St. John Armenian Church in San Francisco, or the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Memorial service forthcoming.
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