Louise Manoogian Simone (May 19, 1933 – February 18, 2019)[1] was an Armenian American philanthropist. She was president of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) from 1989 to 2002.[2]
Louise Manoogian was born in Detroit, Michigan. Her father Alex Manoogian, an immigrant from Smyrna, founded Masco in 1929 and became wealthy after developing the one-handed faucet in the 1950s.[3] Alex Manoogian was fifth president of the AGBU and a philanthropist for Detroit civic causes and Armenian political and cultural causes.[3]
She was on the AGBU's central council for eight years before succeeding her father as its president.[3][4] She organized AGBU disaster relief after the 1988 Armenian earthquake.[5] In 1962, her parents established the Louise Manoogian Simone Foundation, which was later renamed the Manoogian Simone Foundation.[6] In 2007 it donated $1.2m to the University of Michigan's Armenian Studies program.[7] In 1979 Simone served a term on the Council of the Eastern U.S. Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the first woman in such a senior position.[8] Simone and her brother Richard Manoogian contributed $2m in 2000 towards the construction of Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan.[9]
Louise Manoogian married Arman Simone[10] and lived in Manhattan.[3] Simone had a daughter, Christine, and two sons, David and Marc.[11]