[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 139 (Thursday, September 29, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     IN MEMORY OF HARRY NALTCHAYAN

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, a couple of weeks ago, I was at my home in 
Vermont and received a call from Washington that Harry Naltchayan, the 
preeminent photographer of the Washington Post, had died unexpectedly.
  Harry had been a photographer at the Post for 35 years, over a third 
of a century. I first met him when I was a very, very junior and very 
new Member of the U.S. Senate and I had taken my family to the premiere 
of the first Star Trek movie. We had gone, after the movie, to the Air 
and Space Museum, where the cast was meeting, and I had with me 
children ranging from about 5 or 6 years old to around 12.
  Harry was there, looking for a photograph to take. He took 
photographs of the children talking with the cast. Frankly, I was far 
more pleased with that than I would have been with a picture of myself. 
I must say, they photograph a lot better than I. But he went beyond 
that. He had checked their names, where they lived, made up some 
prints, and sent them to them.
  That was about 18 or 19 years ago, and my children to this day--now 
grown, two married--have those prints. And over the years, members of 
the Leahy family have received other copies of pictures that Harry 
took.
  He was an extraordinary person. It got so that anytime I went to 
something or saw a head of state visiting or a Presidential visit or 
major event at the White House, we would see Harry Naltchayan, a large, 
affable man with a poet's use of the camera. He would always holler out 
to me, I would see a great smile, and a flash would go off.
  About a week ago, I was at an event where the White House press corps 
and White House photographers were, all of whom are extremely good--
prize winners, excellent people. But I went over to them and I said 
that as much as I enjoyed seeing them there, I felt a sense of sadness 
not seeing Harry, because I think it was one of the first times I had 
been to something where he was not.
  I feel so extremely sorry that this wonderful man, a great husband, 
father of some of the nicest children you might know--his daughters, 
Anie and Joyce, and sons Neshan and Haik. And, of course, his wonderful 
wife for all these years, Elizabeth. It is a shame that they could not 
have him for so many more years. But it is a great benefit to all of 
us, and to the people of this city, that we have had him for so many 
years.
  So I am sorry to see a good friend go, but I am so proud of what he 
has left behind, with his family, his friends, and a tremendous body of 
work.
  I ask unanimous consent the obituary that appeared in the Washington 
Post of September 17 be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection the obituary was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Sept. 17, 1994]

  Photographer Harry Naltchayan Dies; Worked For The Post For 35 Years

                            (By Martin Weil)

       Harry Naltchayan, 69, a photographer for The Washington 
     Post for 35 years who won many awards and was widely 
     recognized for his artistic gifts and personal charm, died 
     yesterday after suffering a heart attack at his home in 
     Annandale.
       Adopt in many areas of photography, Mr. Naltchayan showed a 
     particular talent for portraiture, which he used to great 
     effect in chronicling the Washington social scene at the 
     White House, along Embassy Row and elsewhere.Among the city's 
     movers and shakers, Mr. Naltchayan was recognized and 
     welcomed for the quality of his work and for the warmth and 
     humor of his vibrant personality.
       A sophisticated man with a working knowledge of five 
     languages and a feeling for the human condition, Mr. 
     Naltchayan was a photographer and amateur athlete in his 
     native Lebanon before coming to the United States in 1958 to 
     make of his life an immigrant's success story.
       He covered every president since Eisenhower, cut an 
     imposing figure at work in his tuxedo at White House dinners, 
     and was himself a guest at a State Dinner during the Johnson 
     administration.
       Photography was one of his life's constants. ``He loved the 
     business,'' said Jim Atherton, a former Post photographer 
     editor. ``That's why he was still working.''
       Although Mr. Naltchayan, with his white hair and air of 
     old-world wisdom, seemed especially at home on the diplomatic 
     circuit, he ``went out and did the best he could'' on the 
     full variety of assignments that came the way of a newspaper 
     photographer, Atherton said.
       The assignments included crime and civil disorder. In the 
     midst of some of those events, colleagues at The Post often 
     got a chuckle from communicating with Mr. Naltchayan via his 
     two-way car radio.
       Invariably and eagerly, he responded ``four-10'' in place 
     of the standard ``10-four'' familiar to citizens band radio 
     enthusiasts and followers of television police stories.
       ``He was a real pro,'' Atherton said. ``Fun to work with 
     and always an asset to the staff.''
       A member of an Armenian family that settled in Lebanon, Mr. 
     Naltchayan was born in Beirut and educated there at the 
     College de St. Gregoire.
       Photography was an early interest, as was bicycling. He and 
     his brother Jean, were cycling champions as young men. In 
     1952, while they were pedaling along the Mediterranean shore, 
     they came upon an event that helped determine Mr. 
     Naltchayan's life.
       The French liner Champollion, carrying pilgrims to 
     Jerusalem, had run aground. Panic-stricken passengers were 
     jumping overboard.
       Mr. Naltchayan grabbed his camera. The pictures were 
     exclusives. They appeared in magazines worldwide.
       Later, Mr. Naltchayan received many assignments in the 
     Middle East from news organizations, and he worked for the 
     U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
       Amid the factionalism of Lebanese politics, this 
     association made life dangerous for Mr. Naltchayan and his 
     wife, according to Washington photographer Fred Maroon.
       ``He probably would not have lasted if he stuck around,'' 
     Maroon said. The Naltchayans came to Washington in 1958, and 
     Maroon hired Harry Naltchayan as his assistant until a job 
     opened at The Post.
       ``He had class,'' Maroon remembered. ``He was a real 
     gentleman.''
       Mr. Naltchayan was also a prominent figure in the Armenian 
     American community in the United States.
       ``I don't think there was a celebrated Armenian in the 
     country that he didn't cross paths with or get close to,'' 
     Maroon said.
       At the Post, recalled Dick Darcey, a retired director of 
     photography at the newspaper, Mr. Naltchayan quickly 
     demonstrated a variety of skills.
       Faced with the need to get to a story quickly, he ``drove 
     like a French cab driver,'' Darcey said. He also demonstrated 
     a gift for portraiture. Confronted by newspaper deadlines and 
     the need to work quickly, Mr. Naltchayan snapped away on the 
     fly at diplomatic receptions or embassy dinners.
       Yet, when the pictures appeared the next morning, Darcey 
     recalled, there frequently would be a telephone call from the 
     ambassador of this or that country or from his wife, saying 
     that their spouse had never been shown to such advantage.
       ``There's a special talent in photographing people,'' 
     Darcey said. ``Harry developed that talent.''
       Mr. Naltchayan won numerous honors, including at least four 
     first place awards in the White house News Photographers 
     Association contest and three first places in the Washington-
     Baltimore Newspaper Guild's Front Page contest.
       In 1982, he won first prize in the World Press Photo 
     Competition for a picture of President Reagan with three 
     former presidents as they prepared to depart for the funeral 
     of slain Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
       In addition to his brother, Mr. Naltchayan is survived by 
     his wife, Elizabeth, of Annandale; two daughters, Anie, of 
     Arlington, and Joyce, of Annandale; and two sons, Haik, of 
     Annandale and Neshan, of Arlington.

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I see a colleague on the floor and I yield 
the floor to the Senator from Montana.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.

                          ____________________