VA chaplain remembered for his service and strong personality

A special service was dedicated to the late Chaplain William Kalaidjian at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Hospital chapel on July 4. Rev. Kalaidjian died of natural causes in his Riverdale home on Jan. 16 at the age of 89.

The service was conducted by VA Chaplain Charles Davidson and Cantor Daniel Pincus, among friends and family. 

It took place in a chapel Rev. Kalaidjian had saved from destruction back when it belonged to a Catholic orphanage. The headstrong chaplain refused to let it be turned into a parking lot during the construction of the hospital. 

“He thought it was terrible. It was a beautiful church and [he] didn’t want it to be taken down,” said VA Chaplain Kenneth Fosse, who conducted Rev. Kalajian’s funeral service. 

Rev. Kalaidjian, a World War II veteran, served part-time as a chaplain at the VA Hospital and as senior NYPD Chaplain for over 40 years. 

“Any policeman who was shot, wounded, hurt, within an hour or two, he was with that family,” said Chaplain Davidson. 

Rev. Kalaidjian was admired for his fierce loyalty and support of the department. 

“He was a chaplain but he also made arrests,” said Mr. Fosse. “If he saw a crime going down he would go right in there and arrest people. He was a real character.”

“Any police officer who wanted to get married, or if a police officer passed away and they didn’t have a church, Bill would always do their funerals for them or their weddings for them for free, he would just show up,” said Chaplain Fosse. “And if any cop got in trouble, he would help him.”

Rev. Kalaidjian was known to virtually every cop in the city, but his work didn’t stop with the police department. A U.S. Navy veteran formerly in charge of sending weather reports to navy ships, Rev. Kalaidjian had a great appreciation for veterans. 

“Bill and his wife every night would sit at home and they would write letters to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Chaplain Fosse. “In the letter it always said when you’re discharged if you ever come to New York, we’ll buy you dinner, call us up. And some of the guys did.”