Robert Hagopian

Robert C. Hagopian (January 29, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American attorney, government official, and politician.

Early life Hagopian was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Boston public schools graduated from Boston University Law School in 1939. He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

Government career Hagopian lived in Watertown, Massachusetts for 20 years.

In 1967 he was an organizer of the ceremony commemorating the 194th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

He moved to Hamilton, Massachusetts in 1968 after taking a job as director of development for Gordon College, which was run by his friend James Forrester. While in Hamilton, Hagopian would run for public office about 20 times, losing on every occasion. Eight months after his hiring, the Board of Selectmen voted to remove him from office on the grounds that they believed that his job performance had been unsatisfactory, that he had failed to demonstrate a clear pattern of leadership for the town, failed to communicate effectively with the Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting, and consistently proven to be uninformed or misinformed on the status of projects.

After his dismissal he sued the town, claiming that they had violated his Due Process rights by failing to identify further the grounds for his removal, preventing him from cross-examining Board members under oath at the public hearing, and dismissing him "without any justifiable cause or basis in fact." He was awarded $30,000 in damages, but the decision was overturned on appeal. The couple had one son, Robert M. J. Hagopian.