Peter Koutoujian
American politician
Peter John Koutoujian (born September 17, 1961) is an American politician who is the current Sheriff of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Education
Koutoujian earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Bridgewater State University in 1983, a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 2003, a Juris Doctor degree from the New England School of Law in 1989.
Massachusetts House of Representatives
A former Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Koutoujian was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1996. From 2001 to 2005, he was a member of Joint Committee on Health Care and was the chairman of the Committee from 2003 to 2005. From 2005 to 2009, he was the Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health. From 2009 until his departure from the House, he was the Chair of Joint Committee on Financial Services.
Sheriff of Middlesex County
On January 14, 2011, Koutoujian was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to fill the term of Middlesex County Sheriff James DiPaola, who died on November 26, 2010.
As part of his role as Sheriff, Koutoujian opens the Harvard University commencement ceremony.
Congressional campaign
Koutoujian was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2013 special election for the U.S. House of Representatives. He ran to succeed Ed Markey as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th district.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Peter Koutoujian” as american politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7175272. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1983, 2003 and 1989.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Peter Koutoujian”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Peter Koutoujian primary sources, Peter Koutoujian archive and Peter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Peter Koutoujian”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Peter Koutoujian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.