Boston.com |
May 27, 2005
Zaven DerHagopian, 82; aided native Armenia
By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff Zaven DerHagopian was 16 when he left his
Armenian community in Turkey in 1938 to come to America with his family. But
his love of the Armenian people would stay with him for the rest of his
life.
Once he had found success here through hard work and perseverance, Mr.
DerHagopian made 28 trips to Armenia over 23 years. He provided financial
and material aid to people who needed it — he gave tractors to farmers and
supplies to schools, for example.
Mr. DerHagopian, a retired food chemist and philanthropist, died of cancer
Saturday at his home in Cumberland Foreside, Maine. He was 82.
”Zaven was a very proud Armenian and an extremely charitable man who was
very intelligent and charming,” said William Kayatta of South Portland,
Maine, a longtime friend.
Mr. DerHagopian became so popular during his trips to Armenia that in the
last 30 years he was asked to be the godfather to more than 20 people. That
tribute is considered ”one of the most honorable and respected
responsibilities in the Armenian culture,” according to Mr. DerHagopian’s
son Zareh of Falmouth, Maine.
On first arriving in America, Mr. DerHagopian’s parents, Aram and Flora, and
his two siblings settled in Medford. Unable to speak English at first, but
fluent in French and Armenian, Mr. DerHagopian had his school lessons
translated into French, and then he translated them into Armenian.
He worked odd jobs and at his parents’ variety store, his son said, while
going through Medford High School and, later, during his college years.
After graduating from high school, Mr. DerHagopian enlisted in the Army and
served as a medical technician in England. He enrolled under the GI Bill at
Northeastern University, earning a degree in chemistry in 1953, his son
said.
Later, he did advanced studies in food chemistry and worked in that field
for companies in the Boston area. He married Dorothy Bedrosian 51 years ago.
In 1968, Mr. DerHagopian began working at the former Jordan’s Meats in South
Portland. He was a food chemist and the company’s vice president for many
years.
”Zaven created a couple of fine products for them, like the chicken hot
dog,” Kayatta said. ”He convinced the company that using chicken would not
only save money but be better for nutrition.”
Mr. DerHagopian began making regular trips to Armenia in 1975, and his love
for his heritage and the Armenian people made him many friends almost
immediately, his son said. Even on that first visit, he was asked to be a
godfather for the bridegroom in a family he had just met, his son said. Once
he retired in 1982, he made more frequent visits to Armenia, forging bonds
with his godchildren and with the Daniel Vartan School in Yerevan, the
capital.
His son recalled packing containers of supplies in Maine that would be sent
to the school, where students once put on an assembly in Mr. DerHagopian’s
honor. He was last there a year ago for the graduation of a class close to
his heart. He dedicated each trip, his son said, to various causes — from
helping someone launch a business to helping a struggling singer record his
folk music. Mr. DerHagopian then sold the CDs for him in the States. ”Dad
liked to help people help themselves,” his son said.
Mr. DerHagopian preferred not to work with relief agencies, his son said.
”It gave him much greater pleasure to help on his own,” he said. When a
major earthquake once struck Armenia, Mr. DerHagopian initiated fund-raising
efforts here. Occasionally, he would bring Armenians to visit in the States
and would travel with American friends to Armenia.
Gus Barber of Portland, Maine, once accompanied him. ”It was a very
emotional trip for Zaven,” he said. ”He was just obsessed with helping
people.”
So beloved did Mr. DerHagopian become in Armenia, his son said, that parents
would delay baptizing a child to wait for his arrival.
Although Mr. DerHagopian moved from Massachusetts almost 40 years ago,
Kayatta said, he often came to Watertown to play pinochle with a group of
friends until a year ago. In Maine, he lunched several times a week with
Barber and Kayatta. Even when Mr. DerHagopian might feel he was losing a
debate, Kayatta said, he would tell them, ” ‘I’m not wrong. You’re right.’
He always said it with a twinkle in his eye and a little smile on his face.”
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. DerHagopian leaves a daughter, Lucine
of North Reading; a sister, Shake Goshdigian of West Hartford, Conn.; a
brother, Nubar of Boston; and three grandchildren.
Services have been held. Burial was in Forest City Cemetery in South
Portland