Dr. John Charles Attarian, economist, author, and occasional contributor to The Occidental Quarterly, died suddenly December 31, 2004, at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan,following a massive heart attack he suffered while visiting his mother. Dr. Attarian had been a daily walker, didn’t smoke, and showed no signs of heart disease or other illnesses.
The 48-year-old writer, a Michigan native, graduate of the University of Michigan, and resident of Ann Arbor, is the author of numerous articles and monographs, including Social Security: False Consciousness and Crisis and Economism and the National Prospect. He began his career as a professional writer in 1990. In the ensuing decade and a half, he wrote poetry, works of fiction, nonfiction monographs, scholarly articles, and book reviews that appeared in Modern Age, National Review, Crisis, Reason, The Social Critic, The Freeman, Chronicles, the Human Life Review, Culture Wars, The University Bookman, the Wall Street Journal, the Detroit News, the Chicago Tribune, the St. Croix Review, The World & I, Academic Questions, and The American Enterprise. Although his field of expertise was the history of Social Security and the politics of Social Security reform, Attarian was a polymath who wrote knowledgeably and incisively on topics ranging from the costs to America of illegal immigration, the crisis in national education, the budget deficit, the culture wars, literature, and religion. He served as an editorial advisor to Modern Age, associate editor of The Social Critic, and contributing editor of Religion & Liberty, a publication of the Acton Institute. He was a frequent contributor to The Social Contract.
Attarian had a firm grasp of the political undercurrents that have hollowed out the American conservative movement. In his writings for this journal, he described how the conservative establishment has become hostage to the forces of political correctness and explained why conservatives have drifted away from their core convictions on the issues central to our culture. Since his own political beliefs were firmly rooted in the pre-Cold War American right, he understood all too well the forces that have pulled the conservative movement in directions antithetical to its founding principles.
Born on November 25, 1956 in Detroit, Attarian is survived by his mother, brother, and sister. His father passed away in 1987. A fervent Roman Catholic, Attarian was a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, where a memorial service was held for him on January 15 with Fr. Roger Prokop officiating.
A few days before Christmas, this editor received a Christmas card from John noting, “It’s been a pleasure working with you for TOQ and getting to know you. I look forward to more of the same and hope this finds you well. Wishing you a blessed and joyous Christmas and a good New Year, Fondly, John.” We at TOQ mourn the unexpected passing of this scholarly and passionate defender of America and the Occident, and will forever miss those periodic e-mails slugged “Howdy!” May he rest in peace!