deukmejian was born courken george deukmejian jr. in menands, new york. his parents were armenians who emigrated from the ottoman empire in the early 1900s to escape the armenian genocide. his father, george deukmejian, whose sister was killed during the genocide, was a rug merchant born in gaziantep. deukmejian's mother, alice gairden, was born in erzurum and worked for montgomery ward and later for new york state. deukmejian graduated with a b.a. in sociology from siena college in 1949. he then earned a juris doctor (j.d.) from st. john's university in 1952. from 1953 to 1955, he served in the u.s. army, assigned to the judge advocate general's corps.