A man who is ahead of time. Suren Stepanyants is Azmol’s legend

November 22 marks 40 years since Suren Avanesovich Stepanyants passed away. For 33 years, this outstanding man led the Berdyansk experimental oil and refinery plant, which now has the name Azmol. The inscription on the stele, installed in honor of Suren Avanesovich, reads: "A man who is ahead of time." And not only for the plant, but also for the Berdyansk city, where Stepanyants lived and worked - this is an indisputable truth. Veterans of the Azmol plant, deputies of the city and regional councils, students of the gymnasium №3 “Constellation” and residents of the AZMOL district came to honor the memory of the legendary director.

During his lifetime, Suren Avanesovich Stepanyants became a legend, having taken under his command the cracking unit destroyed by the war and charred industrial buildings. It was Stepanyants who, together with his team, had a difficult path, having made the leader of the lubricant industry in Eastern Europe out of the plant.

For 33 years, he began every working day with a tour of production facilities. He knew all the employees, their capabilities and their needs. Thanks to Suren Avanesovich in Berdyansk, a well-developed village appeared near the enterprise in which there was everything necessary for a comfortable life: a school, shops, children's institutions, a culture house. City school №15 (now gymnasium №3) also owes its birth to Stepanyants. He always understood the importance of raising and educating a new generation of Berdyansk citizens.

On the fortieth anniversary of the death of Suren Stepanyants, all those who remember the justice and wisdom of the legendary director of the enterprise gathered at the memorial sign in his honor.

Representatives of the Armenian community of Berdyansk promised to go to the hometown of Suren Avanesovich - Gadrut to share with the residents the achievements of their compatriot.

Vladimir Pivovarov, the Chief Technologist of the Azmol plant said about the legend of the enterprise:

“The Azmol Museum contains a lot of evidence of Suren Stepanyants’s outstanding life and work path. Once Suren Avanesovich ambitiously and highly raised the level of oil production in Berdyansk. And I am happy and proud that for me and for the current staff of the enterprise, thanks to our British partners, was honored to continue the work of a man who proved that Azmol means quality, international recognition and social responsibility in the native land”.

After the requiem rally, teachers of Berdyansk gymnasium № 3 asked Vladimir Pivovarov to provide them with archive data about Suren Stepanyants, located in the museum of the Azmol factory, in order to tell students about the valuable contribution of the former director to the development of the enterprise and his native Berdyansk.

Suren Avanesovich Stepanyants was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Berdyansk, and a memorial plaque of the legendary director was installed at the entrance of the Azmol factory. He was always ahead of time and forever inscribed his name in the history of Azmol, Berdyansk and all of Ukraine. The staff of the Azmol plant honors and keeps the memory of Suren Avanesovich Stepanyants - the legendary leader and great man.