Family and Early Life
Mardian's father, Samuel, was from the Armenian town of Hadjin in the Velayat of Adana in the Ottoman Empire (present day Saimbeyli in Mediterranean Turkey). He was born Samuel Zeligian into a Christian family and was a member of Second Congregational Church in Hadjin. Following the massacre of 35,000 Armenians in Adana in 1909 and the siege of Christian Hadjin Samuel moved his family and was in the United States by 1912. Samuel settled in California and supported progressive politicians such as Hiram Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt. However Samuel Mardian's four sons adopted free-market politics. Robert Mardian's brother Samuel Mardian Jr. served as Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona and was a leading supporter of Barry Goldwater. Samuel Jr. took over the family construction business and developed it into a multi-million dollar concern.
Robert Mardian went to public school in Pasadena, California followed by Columbia University, North Dakota State Teachers College, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. While serving in the United States Navy he met and married Dorothy Denniss in 1946. They had three sons. Mardian was awarded a law degree from the University of Southern California in 1949. After leaving law school he went into private practice as a corporate lawyer.
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