Career
Jirair Hovnanian and his three brothers founded a family construction company, Hovnanian Brothers Corp., in 1959. In 1964 Hovnanian split off from his brothers' company and founded his own construction business, J.S. Hovnanian & Sons, of Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey. Over the next 40 years under Hovnanian's leadership, J.S. Hovnanian & Sons built over 6,000 throughout South Jersey, mainly in Burlington County, Camden County, and Gloucester County. (One of Jirair's brothers, Kevork Hovnanian, would later found Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., a publicly traded firm based in Red Bank, New Jersey. Jirair's and Kevork's prospective companies are not related professionally.)
Jirair Hovnanian championed New Jersey state laws in the 1970s to protect home buyers from unscrupulous builders and realtors. The laws later enacted included the Municipal Land Use Law, the 10 year Home Owner's Warranty Program, and the Uniform Construction Code.
Hovnanian and his firm, J.S. Hovnanian & Sons, had participated in the ABC reality show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and completed the project just 10 days before his death in August 2007. Hovnanian's company built a home for free in Pennsauken, New Jersey, for the Marrero family, which was made up of Victor Marrero and his five sons. The home, which was built in just 96 hours, was completed for the show and the Marrero family, on August 4, 2007. Hovnanian's family later told the Philadelphia Inquirer that participating in the show was one of his dreams. Victor Marrero, the recipient of the episode's new home built by Hovnanian, told the newspaper following Hovnanian's death, "Mr. Hovnanian gave me and my sons a lifeline. I will love him all my life. He was quiet and always in the back. He was not a showoff. He told me 'I know you and your boys will be all right.' He threw so much love at me."
Hovnanian served as president of the New Jersey Builders Association and the lifelong director of the National Association of Home Builders.
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