used deed restrictions that kept Armenians and other people of color from buying homes .
“ To say I was thrilled is an understatement ,” said Marshall D . Moushigian , a Fresno attorney / financial advisor and member of the renaming steering committee . “ To have waited over a century to have a school named for one of us was simply another in a long line of indignations that we endured and moved past as we successfully built our individual lives and our community .”
Hrach Roger Tatarian was born in Fresno and grew up in the southeast region of the city . He attended Jackson Elementary School and Longfellow Junior High School . At Longfellow , vice principal Ruby Johnson Pratt recognized his talent and asked him to write for the school newspaper , “ The Longfellow Poet ,” sparking his interest in journalism .
He graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1934 , where he was a senior class president , graduated Cum Laude and was among five commencement speakers . The June 5 , 1934 Roosevelt News newspaper notes Mr . Tatarian as its copy editor .
Mr . Tatarian was editor of the student newspaper at Fresno State , The Daily Collegian , and graduated in 1938 with a degree in political science . ( Fresno State did not offer a journalism degree at the time .)
Two weeks after graduating , Mr . Tatarian was hired by the Fresno bureau of UPI , which supplies stories to thousands of newspapers , magazines and broadcasting outlets . A year later he was hired by the San Francisco bureau of UPI . He then was asked to open a bureau in Phoenix , where he decided to drop “ Hrach ” and go with just “ Roger Tatarian ” because New York editors reading his byline thought it was garbled . At age 24 , Mr . Tatarian was promoted to reporting from the Washington , D . C . UPI bureau .
He was a war correspondent during World War II , continuing to work for UPI for 34 years after the war as a reporter and editor throughout the world . Mr . Tatarian served as general news manager for Europe , the Middle East and Africa . He was bureau chief in London and Rome and also served as news editor in Washington , D . C . before becoming editor-in-chief at UPI .
He served as a Pulitzer Prize nomination juror in 1960 , 1961 and 1985 . Other awards and honors include the Elijah Parrish Lovejoy Award , a special citation by Ohio University and an honorary doctorate in law from Colby College in Maine and honorary doctorate in letters from Windham College in Vermont . He was named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists -- Sigma Chi Delta and was among the first group of journalists inducted into the society ’ s New York chapter Hall of Fame , along with Walter Cronkite .
After retiring from UPI , Mr . Tatarian returned to Fresno State to join the