Watergate figure.

Robert Charles Mardian, of Phoenix, AZ passed away on July 17, 2006, at his vacation home in San Clemente, California at age 82, due to complications of lung cancer.

He was born and raised in Pasadena, California, the youngest of eleven children born to Samuel and Akabe Mardian. After graduation from high school, he enrolled at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the fall of 1941. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve during his freshman year at UCSB. On June 6, 1942, he was called to active duty by the U.S. Navy and was sent to Valley City State College in North Dakota, then to Columbia University Midshipman's School, New York, where he was commissioned an ensign and assigned to a sub-chaser in the Aleutian Islands. His military war time service was in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Although he was he was the youngest man on board, he served as Commander of his sub-chaser. While serving in the Navy, he met Dorothy Denniss, they were married in April of 1946. Following Japan's surrender, as the commander of his ship, he signed his own separation papers from the United States Navy on June 22, 1946, to resume civilian life with his new bride. Immediately following his discharge, he was accepted for admission at the University of Southern California (USC) Law School and graduated in 1949 with honors (Order of the Coif). He opened his law office, Poole & Mardian in Pasadena, CA in 1949 and later became a partner in the law firm Boyle, Atwill, Mardian, & Stearns (1951 - 1962). He joined Wesco Financial Corporation and served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for its subsidiary, Mutual Savings and Loan Association from 1962 to 1969. Mr. Mardian was actively involved in numerous political campaigns. He served as Western Regional Director for Senator Barry Goldwater's Presidential campaign in 1964 and was Chairman of Ronald Reagan's State Advisory Committee during his 1966 campaign for Governor of California. In 1968, he was the Western States Co-Chairman for Richard Nixon's campaign for President of the United States. In 1969, following the inauguration of President Richard Nixon, he was nominated and confirmed as General Counsel to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1970, he was appointed by the President to be Executive Director of the Cabinet Committee on Education. Later that year, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice. In 1972, he became the Attorney of Record for the Committee to Re-elect t he President and became embroiled in the Watergate investigation. He was the only person indicted to have his conviction overturned on appeal. The government declined to re-try him and he was exonerated of any wrong-doing. In 1972, he joined his brothers in Phoenix, Arizona, as Vice President and General Counsel for Mardian Construction Company and other family-owned entities, retiring in 2002.

Bob received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award and Jaycees Young Man of the Year Awar d in 1956, the American Legion 50th Anniversary Medallion Award in 1969, and Alumnus of the Year Award, University of California, Santa Barbara in 1971. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Safety Council, Pasadena Community Chest, the Pasadena Board of Education, and as President of the Kazanjian Foundation. Mr. Mardian was accepted for practice before the State Bar of California, the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He wa s a member of the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association. In 1972, representing the United States, Mr. Mardian presented arguments before the United States Supreme Court (United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan et al).

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dorothy (nee Denniss), three sons, Robert C., Jr. and his children Robert C. III, Ashley and Alexandra; William D. (Norma), their children, Brent, Fallon, and Brooke; and Blair A. (Carol) a nd their children, Blair, Jesse, Skyler and Daisy. Also surviving are his brothers, Samuel and Daniel, and sister, Florence, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.