A Three-Generation Falcon Family
“Nothing makes me as happy as teaching,” says David Missirian, associate professor and chair of Bentley’s Law and Taxation Department. And while he recently marked his 40th consecutive year of teaching Bentley students, he says he might have missed his calling were it not for his mother’s encouragement.
The daughter of ethnic Armenian immigrants from Turkey, his mother, Agnes Missirian, joined Bentley’s faculty in 1980 as a professor of Management, later becoming the department’s first female chair. An unabashed feminist and fierce advocate for higher education, Agnes believed her only child — at the time, a successful lawyer and public defender with his own practice specializing in real estate and contract law — had all the hallmarks of an outstanding educator. She urged him to apply to teach at Bentley. He ended up teaching an evening course on introductory business law designed specifically for working professionals, which offered the best of both worlds: David could practice law by day and share practical, real-world insights with students by night.
David was surprised to uncover a passion for teaching. Much like arguing a case before a jury, his goal as an educator is to captivate his audience, fostering interest and excitement in his students at each lesson. “You need to grab their attention and never let it go by translating complex material into stories and topics they can relate to and remember,” he says.
Though Agnes died in 1994, the Missirian family’s connection to Bentley was fortified via a third generation: David’s daughter Alexandra ’15, one of the university’s first Spanish majors, and son James ’21, MSF ’21, a Finance major. “Bentley was a part of my life for as long as I can remember, so enrolling felt like a natural next step,” says Alexandra, who today teaches Spanish language and Latin American literature at the college level. “I was particularly drawn by the strong liberal arts resources on campus.” James — who serves as operations manager for Fresh Trails Pet Services, a company founded by his mother, Patricia — says the emphasis on experiential learning and group projects “prepared me well for the people side of management, teaching me how to communicate and operate in a professional environment.”
For Alexandra, following in her family’s footsteps is something of an honor. “Although my medzie [grandmother] passed away when I was very young, my parents kept her memory alive by sharing how her resilience and ability to advocate for herself enabled her to open doors that otherwise would have been closed to her,” she says. “My father, likewise, has always displayed a love of education and a dedication to keeping students engaged in his classes — and I’m grateful to contribute to that legacy in my own way.”
