Edward N. Costikyan

Costikyan was born in Weehawken, New Jersey on September 24, 1924.[1] By 1940, he and his family (father, Mihran Nazar Costikyan; mother, Berthe Muller Costikyan; and older brother Andrew M. Costikyan) had moved to West 122nd Street in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.[2][3][4] His father was an oriental rug dealer of Armenian descent while his mother was a native of Switzerland.[3][4] He graduated from Horace Mann School, where his mother taught, and served in World War II.[1] He graduated from Columbia University in 1947, and Columbia Law School in 1949. He clerked for a year for Judge Harold R. Medina at the U.S. District Court.[1]

In 1951 he joined the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, in his first position as an associate lawyer. He became a partner of that firm in 1960.[1] In 1962, Costikyan was elected chairman of the New York County Democratic Committee, defeating Carmine DeSapio, and served two years. He was credited for removing Tammany Hall influence, thus reforming the Democratic Party and bringing it into the 20th Century.[1] He was Abraham Beame's campaign manager in the 1965 Mayoral campaign. He served on commissions investigating the New York City government for Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and Mario M. Cuomo.[1] He dropped out of his campaign for Mayor in 1977, but instead joined the campaign of Edward I. Koch, formerly a political adversary.[1][5] For many years until his death, he served as a member of the advisory board for the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School.[6]

Costikyan has been married twice. His first marriage to Frances Holmgren ended in divorce.[7] In 1977, he married Barbara Heine, a freelance writer and daughter of advertising executive, Arthur C. Fatt in a Unitarian ceremony.[8] He has two children from his first marriage[8] including game designer Greg Costikyan.[1] He was a founder and conductor for the Occasional Oratorio and Orchestral Society.[1]

Coskityan died on June 22, 2012, at the age of 87, at his daughter's home in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.[1]

Costikyan was the author of many works on the law, public policy, and political science, including:

• List of Armenian Americans
• List of Armenian American politicians

• Index of collected papers at Columbia University libraries
• Memoriam page at Paul Weiss website
• Death notice at Legacy.com
• Memoriam page at ACTA website
• Listing at Martindale.com