Henry Khachaturian

Henry Khachaturian

We lost a great patriarch of the car business today. Henry Khachaturian was known by those in automotive circles as Hank Torian. Mr. Torian was a visionary car dealer and entrepreneur who was one of the country's "mega" car dealers and owned as many as 26 car dealerships simultaneously along the West Coast, buying and selling numerous dealerships over the past 40 years.
He passed away peacefully in his home in San Francisco at the age of 90 on May 11th surrounded by loved ones. Hank was born in Rostov, Russia in 1931 and made his way to the United States via Tehran. He then met his wife Rita and settled in Hillsborough to raise his family.
He was definitely a force to be reckoned-an Armenian immigrant with a big American dream. Starting out as a used car salesman, he quickly developed an acumen for the business and bought out the dealership where he worked. He grew operations and by 1997 was the largest privately held chain of auto dealerships in the San Francisco Bay Area and was known as a mega dealer. In 1997 Automotive News ranked his operations in the top 20 of car dealers in the United States, an impressive ranking for a privately held operation. Mr. Torian, like many did in 1999, sold off a large portion of his dealerships, and kept operations at just three bay area dealerships.

Mr. Torian was highly successful in the automotive industry, selling by his own count cars in the millions. He was a successful owner up until his death and a major benefactor to educational and cultural organizations.

He is survived by Daphne Kavich his daughter Bruce his son in law, his daughter Natasha Azzam and Ahmed his son in law. He was a proud Papa to Samantha, Charlie Henry and Jasmin..They will miss their Papa immensely.

Mr. Torian, and his late wife, Rita, formed the Khachaturian Foundation in 1998 in memory of their sons Gerald and Mark. Mr. Torian divided his professional time over the past twenty years between his remaining dealerships and the Foundation, which organizes an annual fundraiser and donates the proceeds towards charitable, educational, and scientific activities within the Bay Area.

At his passing he was still actively overseeing operations at Fremont Toyota, Lexus of Concord and Acura of Fremont. In his spare time he enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, travelling, Vegas trips with the boys and a great cigar.

Services will be held at St Gregory's Armenian Church 51 Commonwealth, San Francisco, 94118 on Saturday May 22 at 12pm, Followed by Burial at Cypress Lawn Memorial 1370 El Camino Real, Colma Ca 94014. Followed Reception at The Khachaturian Center 825 Brotherhood Way SF, 94132