Mr. Robert Kardashian, the father of Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, and Rob Kardashian, was a well-known entrepreneur and lawyer in the United States.
Following his friend, O J Simpson, was absolved and incriminated for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, he rose to prominence. Robert Kardashian was engaged as a defense counselor in the 1995 murder case.
Robert Kardashian
Born to Armenian American parents, Arthur Kardashian (1917–2012) and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian (1917–2008), Robert George Kardashian’s date of birth is February 22, 1944.
Robert’s grandfather, Tatos, changed his name to Thomas when he came to the US and started a garbage collection service, eventually forming his own company.
Thomas got married to Robert’s grandmother, Hamas Shakarian, who was another Armenian immigrant in the United States.
The Kardashians were essentially a family of Armenian Spiritual Christians from Kars Oblast with the surname Kardaschoff.
Even though Robert Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, he also grew up with his family, who lived at 4908 Valley Ridge Avenue in the upscale View Park neighborhood of Los Angeles County.
Upon completion of his high school, Susan Miller Dorsey High School, he was enrolled in the University of Southern California, and in 1966, he attained a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
He pursued a law degree because he wanted to build a career in that field. He obtained his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Upon becoming a Doctor of Law, Kardashian practiced for roughly ten years before establishing his own venture.
Kardashian co-established the trade newspaper Radio & Records in 1973, which he and his colleagues sold for a substantial profit in 1979.
Furthermore, Kardashian was the first to introduce the concept of playing music in cinemas between films, and he proceeded to turn the idea into a business.
He founded a music marketing firm ‘Movie Tunes,’ where his daughter Kim Kardashian also worked.
He was the founder and CEO of the company, and subsequently ventured into Juice Inc., a frozen yogurt company, as well as he also invested in a firm, Concert Cinema, a music video company.
Personal Life
In 1973, Robert Kardashian encountered a flight attendant named Kristen Mary Jenner at a horse race in California. Both were young at that time as Robert was 28 while Jenner was 17.
They courted for five years and decided to get married in June 1978, and stayed in a relationship for almost 12 years.
Kris Jenner and Robert Kardashian have four children together and the couple welcomed their firstborn Kourtney Mary Kardashian on April 18, 1979.
Not even a year passed, she was again pregnant with her second child, Kimberly Noel Kardashian who came into this world on October 21, 1980.
After Kim, the couple had Khloe on June 27, 1984, and Robert junior on March 17, 1987. However, Kris and Robert’s marriage began to break apart towards the end of the 1980s.
Following that, Kris decided to end her relationship with Robert Kardashian and filed for a divorce in 1990.
Kris Jenner’s relationship with soccer player Todd Waterman, whom she was seeing while in a relationship with Kardashian, caused their divorce to be finalized in March 1991.
Even after their divorce, the two had a strained relationship. Kris was placed in a financial bind after Robert Kardashian blocked access to all of her credit cards.
In the midst of it all, Kris met an Olympian, Caitlyn Jenner. Their first encounter was on a blind date. Soon after that, they decided to tie the knot in 1991. Kendall and Kylie are their two children.
Denice Shakarian Halicki, Kardashian’s distant cousin as well as the widow of filmmaker H.B. Halicki, proposed to Kardashian in 1991. The pair never tied the knot.
Then, Kardashian married Jan Ashley in 1998, but the marriage was annulled 30 days later. Ashley subsequently stated that regular upheaval and strife over Kardashian’s ex-wife, Kris Jenner.
Also, Kris’ children also played a significant part in the relationship’s failure. Robert Kardashian then tied a knot with Ellen Pierson (née Markowitz) six weeks before his death.
The Famous Trial
Robert Kardashian was Simpson’s friend since 1969 when they met on a tennis court and became great friends. They had been close for decades, even during the Simpson murder trial.
Kris Jenner and Nicole Brown, the wife of Simpson, became close friends just like their husbands were. Kardashian and Jenner end up splitting in 1991, whereas Brown and Simpson’s divorce was finalized in 1992.
During O.J. Simpson’s trial in 1994, the entire Kardashian family went through a lot of emotional pain. The “Trial of the Century” was later coined to describe this case.
After his friend got into difficulty, Robert Kardashian reactivated his license to practice law, which he had previously revoked for his business start-up.
Simpson was accused of the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, but was cleared of all counts following a contentious criminal trial.
According to the New York Times, Kardashian conceded to questioning Simpson’s innocence in a 1996 ABC interview with Barbara Walters: “I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence.”
Robert Kardashian and O.J Simpson eventually stopped interacting with one another after Kardashian became suspicious and started doubting him.
According to the Associated Press, Simpson spent nine years in jail for robbery and abduction in connection with an effort to reclaim some of his sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel room.
In October of 2017, O.J Simpson was released.
Passing
In July 2003, Kardashian was diagnosed with the last stage of esophageal cancer. In 2003, Kardashian succumbed to that disease and died two months later, on September 30, 2003.
He was 59 years old when he passed away at his home in Encino, Los Angeles. He is buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery.
