Garoyan grew up in Fowler, near Fresno, and earned a B.S. in horticulture from Cal Poly. His first job was as a Cooperative Extension farm advisor for six years in Oregon, where it became apparent to him that he needed to know economics.
After earning a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1960, Garoyan served in the Kennedy Administration as a staff economist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, then returned to Oregon to resume working in Extension.
In 1970, Garoyan accepted a UCCE position in UC Davis Agricultural and Resource Sciences. At Davis, he wrote and advised extensively in several areas of marketing, particularly about the role of cooperatives and independent individual farming-related and commodity activities. He was also very active in The Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics. Garoyan retired in 1983.
He also worked and consulted with many farming-related cooperatives in the U.S., Chile, several Eastern European countries, and the Republic of Armenia. His Eastern European activities also involved consulting for the CIA on the food production and marketing systems in Eastern Europe and Russia before Perestroika. Although retired, he returned to Davis to serve as the founding director of the Statewide Center for Cooperatives, created by the Legislature in 1987 and located at UC Davis. He served as director for five years.
Garoyan was interviewed about his career in 2010 by his colleague and friend, Richard Howitt, professor emeritus of agricultural and resource economics. To view the conversation, visit https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/Leon+Garoyan/0_1dx04vri/25823532.
Garoyan is survived by his wife, Nina Hendrickx; son Leon Garoian III (Pia Kreutzer), daughter Elizabeth Garoian and grandson Benjamin Garoian.
Read more about Garoyan's life at https://www.davisenterprise.com/obits/leon-garoyan.