Today I lost a friend. I seldom use the word Friend as I have so few. At my age, I have few friends, hundreds of acquaintances. As a young man, my father took me aside and told me to be careful about how I use that word, friend.
My friend and mentor Armand Keosian died this morning, and I have to say as I sit here typing I am having difficulty seeing the keys. Much of my early success was directly due to his generosity and his ability to give great advice based on his many years of legal experience.
Armand and I met when I was barely 18 or 19 years old. I had gotten into a little trouble, and he was the lawyer I went to for help. I remember as if it was yesterday. Armand always had the most incredible offices, and this onewas huge, his inner office had a sitting area aside from his massive desk and his chair! When I parked, I was wondering to myself how much was this going to cost me and seeing all of this? Well, he treated me like I was the only client he had and told me not to worry, that he would look into it. The ugly subject of fees came up when I asked him how much this would cost me. Armand asked me How much do you make? I told him, and he smiled and said dont worry about it.
Many years passed and I had kept his business card, and again, I would call for help and or advice. Having retired from police work, I became a private investigator and was returning to Los Angeles to set up a practice. So again, I called Armand and asked for his advice as to where I should set up an office. Armand chuckled and said, Well, how about if I let you use one of my offices in my suite? Century City. I thought how the hell am I going to afford this? The building was one of the original sister buildings at Avenue of the Stars and Santa Monica Boulevard. Here I am a back in L.A., and I have an office in one of the most expensive buildings in the city. I stayed with Armand and his two sons, Greg and Chris, for more years then I can remember. Oh, and if I forgot to mention the costs, Armand never took a nickel from me for rent and gave me one hell of an office in one hell of a building in Century City. Note: Armand had a fully stocked law library, kitchen, and there must have been nine offices and, of course, his office was one of the biggest I had ever seen at that point in my career. And the views, all pretty nice and his, of course, was the corner with a huge view of Beverly Hills; this was Armand Keosian, Esq.
Over time as Armand was preparing to retire, we would meet at different places for dinner. One of his favorites was Cafe Bijou in Sherman Oaks, and when in Palm Springs we would meet at LGs and always had a great time. The stories and laughs were priceless and generally at my expense! Armand loved to watch something go wrong with a meal with amusement at how I would address the issue. Good times till the end, I always considered Armand more of a close relative, Helen his wife, his two sons and all those grandkids too, these were better than friends and remained in my thoughts to this very day.
As one grows older, the loss of loved ones and friends begin to take a terrible toll. Hearing that Armand died today, in fact, shook me to my core, and I am at a loss. At a loss as to how many more of these can I take. Dont have too many more friends left, so many have left me already. Armand, thank you for almost 50 years of friendship and guidance, as I have told all that know me Armand Keosian was critical to my early days of success.
By John Nazarian
Straight Talk with John J. Nazarian, Private Investigator
March 27, 2019
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