Image of Dr. George Khachatourians, Department of Applied Microbiology and Food Science, College of Agriculture, seated indoors in a chair.

Bio/Historical Note: Image appeared in 27 Nov. 1998 issue of OCN.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. George G. Khachatourians (aka "Khach" or "GGK") was born in 1940 during part of the Armenian Diaspora. He grew up in Iran where many Armenians fled to during the Genocide. He moved to California in his 20s to further his education. While Dr. Khachatourians rarely spoke of his pre-American life, it clearly shaped who he was and contributed to his intense focus on academic and scientific achievement. His dedication to studying science and medicine earned him a scholarship to the graduate program at San Francisco State University, where he completed an MA in Microbiology and Genetics in 1968. Dr. Khachatourians then graduated with his PhD in Microbiology/Biochemistry in 1971 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, during which time he also met his future wife Lorraine, while both of them were spending many hours in Dr. David Suzuki's lab. In the mid-1970s he completed his post-doctoral fellowship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and a year-long research position at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Khachatourians moved to Saskatoon to join the U of S as a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (College of Medicine), then the Department of Applied Microbiology & Food Science which became Food and Bioproduct Sciences (College of Agriculture), Dr. Khachatourians spent four decades as a professor doing research and teaching. He wrote for and edited various publications including "Applied Mycology and Biotechnology" (the world's first book series on the topic, which he co-founded), chaired and contributed to committees, and was instrumental in building the college's microbiology program. Dr. Khachatourians also co-founded a successful agricultural microbial inoculant company, Philom Bios, in 1980 with friend and colleague John V. Cross, which they ran until its acquisition in 2007. Dr. Khachatourians was named Professor Emeritus of the Department of Applied Microbiology and Food Science, College of Agriculture, retiring officially in 2014. He died in March 2018 in Saskatoon.