Jack Kevorkian - Early Life

Early Life

Kevorkian was born in Pontiac, Michigan to Armenian immigrants. His father Levon was born in the village of Passen, near Erzurum, and his mother Satenig was born in the village of Govdun, near Sivas. His father moved from Turkey in 1912 and made his way to Pontiac, where he found work at an automobile foundry. Satenig fled the Armenian Genocide of 1915, finding refuge with relatives in Paris, and eventually reuniting with her brother in Pontiac. Levon and Satenig met through the Armenian community in their city, where they married and began their family. The couple had a daughter, Margaret, in 1926, followed by son Jacob – who later earned the nickname "Jack" from an American teacher who misread the birth certificate — and, lastly, the third child, a daughter, Flora. Kevorkian, who taught himself German and Japanese, graduated from Pontiac Central High School with honors in 1945, at the age of 17. In 1952, he graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. Kevorkian never married. He completed residency training in anatomical and clinical pathology and briefly conducted research on blood transfusion, but was unable to function effectively as a hospital pathologist. Kevorkian left the active practice of medicine and, for a time, was even homeless.