When people trace the Kardashian family tree, the name usually stops at Robert Kardashian Sr. — the attorney who became nationally known during the O.J. Simpson trial. But go back one generation, and you find Arthur Kardashian: a private man whose descendants became some of the most recognized names in American pop culture.
Arthur was not a television personality or public figure. He lived quietly, raised his family in Los Angeles, and built a life that stayed largely out of the spotlight. Today, his name appears in genealogy searches, family histories, and Kardashian biographies — because without Arthur, there is no Robert, and without Robert, there are no Kardashian siblings as the world knows them.
This article covers who Arthur Kardashian was, where he fits in the Kardashian family tree, the Armenian-American heritage he carried, and the family he built with his wife, Helen Arakelian.
Arthur Kardashian’s Place in the Kardashian Family Tree
The simplest way to understand Arthur’s role is through a three-generation line: Arthur Kardashian → Robert Kardashian Sr. → Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian.
Arthur was the father of Robert Kardashian Sr., the Los Angeles-based attorney and businessman born in 1944. Robert later became the father of four children who would go on to become household names through reality television and business ventures.
That makes Arthur the paternal grandfather of Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian. It is worth being clear here: Arthur was not Kim Kardashian’s father. Robert Kardashian Sr. was the connecting generation between Arthur and the famous siblings.
Arthur was not a celebrity in his own right. His place in biographies and family histories comes entirely from his family line, not from any public career or media presence of his own.
Birth, Death, and the Limits of the Public Record
Arthur Kardashian was born in October 1917, though sources differ slightly on the exact date. Some genealogy records list October 26; others say October 27. Rather than present one date as the confirmed answer, it is more accurate to say his birth fell in late October 1917 and leave it there.
He died on December 9, 2012. This date appears consistently across multiple sources, including IMDb and secondary biographical accounts, making it the most reliably repeated detail about the end of his life.
Most of what is known about Arthur comes from genealogy databases and secondary sources — not from primary records like official documents or published interviews. Family-tree websites such as Geni can be useful starting points for understanding relationships, but they rely on user-contributed information. That means some details — exact birthplace, specific dates, occupation — may contain errors or conflict between profiles.
Readers who want to dig into Arthur’s life should treat genealogy websites as a lead, not as a final authority.
His Wife, Helen Arakelian, and Their Children
Arthur married Helen Jean Arakelian in Los Angeles in 1938. Helen was also of Armenian-American heritage, which meant their marriage joined two Armenian family lines already established in Southern California.
Together, Arthur and Helen had three children:
- Barbara Kardashian Freeman
- Thomas “Tommy” Kardashian
- Robert Kardashian Sr.
Robert, born in Los Angeles in 1944, became the most publicly known of their three children. He studied law, built a career in business, and later gained national attention during the O.J. Simpson criminal defense trial in 1995, where he served as part of Simpson’s legal team.
Arthur and Helen raised their family in Los Angeles, where the Kardashian name would remain rooted through the following generations. The city became the backdrop for everything that came after — Robert’s career, his marriage to Kris Houghton (later Kris Jenner), and eventually the rise of the Kardashian siblings in entertainment and business.
The Armenian-American Roots of the Kardashian Name
Arthur Kardashian came from an Armenian family. Genealogy sources commonly identify his parents as Tatos “Tom” Kardashian and Hamas “Hanna” Shakarian, placing his family roots one generation further back in the Armenian community.
Family histories describe the older Kardashian line as originating from the Kars region, a historically Armenian area that is now located in northeastern Turkey. Like many Armenian families of that era, the Kardashians carried with them a heritage shaped by displacement, migration, and resettlement in the United States.
Helen Arakelian’s family background added another layer of Armenian heritage to the household Arthur and Helen built together. Both the Kardashian and Arakelian surnames point to Armenian roots, and the Los Angeles area had a significant Armenian-American community during the decades Arthur and Helen raised their family.
The Kardashian siblings have spoken publicly about their Armenian identity over the years, particularly in the context of events like the Armenian Genocide and the family’s ancestral homeland. That cultural thread runs through multiple generations — from Arthur’s parents, through Arthur and Helen, through Robert Kardashian Sr., and into the generation that grew up in front of cameras.
What Was Arthur Kardashian Known For Personally?
Some secondary accounts mention that Arthur and Helen were connected to a Southern California meat-packing business. However, this claim appears in secondary biographical sources and does not have a strong primary source confirming the details. It is included here only to acknowledge that the claim exists, not to present it as a documented fact.
Beyond that, Arthur’s personal life — his day-to-day work, his interests, his voice — is not part of the public record. He was not interviewed for major publications. He did not appear in television programs or court proceedings. He was a private person who happened to be the father and grandfather of people who would become very public figures.
That is not unusual. Many people who matter deeply to a family’s history leave little behind in terms of public documentation. Arthur’s significance is relational, not professional.
Why Arthur Kardashian Appears in Family Histories Today
Interest in Arthur Kardashian is driven almost entirely by curiosity about the Kardashian siblings and, before them, Robert Kardashian Sr. When readers want to understand where the Kardashian family came from — culturally, generationally, geographically — they often trace the name backward through Robert Sr. and arrive at Arthur.
Robert Kardashian Sr. himself became a public figure because of his legal career and his friendship with O.J. Simpson. His prominence in the mid-1990s made the Kardashian name known to a national audience years before his children became famous. After Robert Sr. passed away in 2003, his children — Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob — built their own separate careers, most visibly through the reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which aired from 2007 to 2021.
None of that fame touched Arthur directly. He died in December 2012, by which point the Kardashian siblings were already household names. But he was still alive to see the family name become one of the most recognized in entertainment.
For anyone researching the Kardashian family’s origins, Arthur represents the generation that came before the spotlight — an Armenian-American man who married, raised children in Los Angeles, and passed his name and heritage to the generation that followed. Coverage of this kind of family history is part of what Start Business Media explores when looking at the stories behind well-known names.
A Quick Summary of Arthur Kardashian’s Key Facts
- Born: October 1917 (exact date uncertain — sources list either October 26 or October 27)
- Died: December 9, 2012
- Wife: Helen Jean Arakelian (married 1938 in Los Angeles)
- Children: Barbara Kardashian Freeman, Thomas “Tommy” Kardashian, and Robert Kardashian Sr.
- Grandchildren: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian (through Robert Sr.)
- Heritage: Armenian-American; parents commonly identified as Tatos “Tom” Kardashian and Hamas “Hanna” Shakarian
- Public status: Not a public figure; known today through family history and genealogy research
Final Thoughts
Arthur Kardashian was not famous. He did not seek attention, and the public record about his life is limited enough that even basic details like his exact birth date remain a matter of mild debate across genealogy sources.
What is clear is his place in the family: he was the husband of Helen Arakelian, the father of Robert Kardashian Sr., and the paternal grandfather of some of the most-covered celebrities of the last two decades. He was part of an Armenian-American community in Los Angeles that carried its heritage through generations and, in this family’s case, into the very public lives of his grandchildren.
His story is a reminder that behind almost every famous name, there are quieter generations — people who built families, kept traditions alive, and left behind a foundation that others would stand on long after.
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