Robert Kardashian

Robert George Kardashian (born February 22, 1944) was an American lawyer and businessman. He is best known for being the defense attorney of O. J. Simpson at his murder trial, and being the father of the Kardashian sisters. He has often been spoken about in the E! reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Early Life
Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California to parents Arthur and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian. He has one brother, Thomas "Tom" Kardashian and one sister, Barbara Kardashian Freeman.

He attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School and the University of Southern California where he graduated with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. He then attended the University of San Diego School of Law where he earned a J.D. degree.

His family were Armenian Spiritual Christians originally from Kars Oblast and known by the surname Kardaschoff, a Russianised form of the Armenian surname Kardashian, as the area, though now part of modern-day Turkey, was then part of the Russian Empire. Once in the United States, his grandfather, Tatos, changed his name to Thomas and began a career in garbage collection, founding his own business and married Hamas Shakarian, also an immigrant of Armenian heritage.

Career
Kardashian practiced law for about a decade before going into business. In 1973, he was one of the co-founders of the trade publication Radio & Records, which he and his partners sold for a large profit in 1979. He also pioneered the idea of playing music between movies in theaters. He subsequently parlayed the concept into a business, starting a company called Movie Tunes.

He served as President and CEO of the firm and later invested in Juice Inc., a frozen yogurt company and in a music video business called Concert Cinema.

O. J. Simpson Case
See Also: O. J. Simpson Murder Case

Kardashian and Simpson first met around 1967 while both of them were at USC and became close friends. Simpson was the best man at his wedding to Kris Houghton in 1978. Kardashian was the water boy for the USC Trojans football team which would be ranked #1 in the nation in the AP Poll.

Following the June 12, 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house to avoid the media. Kardashian was the man seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day that Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon. When Simpson failed to turn himself in at 11:00am on June 17, 1994, Kardashian read a letter by Simpson to the assembled media. This letter was interpreted by many as a suicide note.

Simpson was charged with the murders and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a controversial criminal trial. Kardashian had let his license to practice law become inactive before the Simpson case but reactivated it to aid in Simpson's defense as a volunteer assistant on his legal team, alongside Simpson's main defense attorneys, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran. As one of Simpson's lawyers and a member of the defense "Dream Team", Kardashian could not be compelled or subpoenaed to testify against Simpson in the case, which included Simpson's past history and behaviour with his ex-wife Nicole, and as to the contents of Simpson's garment bag. He sat by Simpson throughout the trial.

The New York Times reported that Kardashian said in a 1996 ABC interview with Barbara Walters that he had begun to question Simpson's innocence: "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." Kardashian and Simpson ultimately stopped speaking to each other.

Marriages and Children
In 1975, he was in a relationship with Priscilla Presley before breaking up in 1976.

Kardashian had been married three times. He married his first wife, Kris Houghton on July 8, 1978 and together they have three children: Kourtney Mary (born April 18, 1979), Kimberly Noel "Kim" (born October 21, 1980), Khloé Alexandra (born June 27, 1984) and Robert Arthur "Rob" Jr. (born March 17, 1987). The couple divorced in 1991 but remained good friends until his death.

He was then engaged to Denice Shakarian Haliciki, who also happened to be his third cousin. The couple later broke up.

He married his second wife; Jan Ashley in 1998 but the marriage ended in annulment 30 days later. Ashley later claimed frequent upset and turmoil related to Kardashian's ex-wife Kris and their children "were instrumental" in the demise of the relationship.

He married his third wife, Ellen Pierson in 2001, six weeks prior to his death.

He has nine grandchildren. He has three from Kourtney: Mason Dash (born December 14, 2009), Penelope Scotland (born July 8, 2012) and Reign Aston (born December 14, 2014). He has four from Kim: North (born June 15, 2013), Saint (born December 5, 2015), Chicago (born January 15, 2018) and Psalm (born May 9, 2019). He has one from Khloé: True (born April 12, 2018) and one from Rob: Dream Renée (born November 10, 2016).

Death
Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003. He died two months later, on September 30, 2003, at age 59 and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Family
Wives and Partners


 * Priscilla Presley (Ex-girlfriend; 1975-1976)
 * Kris Jenner (Ex-wife; 1978-1991)
 * Denice Shakarian Halicki (Ex-fiance)
 * Jan Ashley (Ex-wife; 1998-1999)
 * Ellen Pierson (Widowed; 2003-2003)

Children


 * Kourtney Kardashian
 * Kim Kardashian
 * Khloé Kardashian
 * Rob Kardashian

Grandchildren


 * Mason Disick
 * Penelope Disick
 * North West
 * Reign Disick
 * Saint West
 * Dream Kardashian
 * Chicago West
 * True Thompson
 * Psalm West

Parents


 * Arthur Kardashian
 * Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian

Siblings


 * Tom Kardashian
 * Barbara Kardashian Freeman