JOYCE N. PARSEGHIAN, ATTORNEY: CAMPAIGNED FOR REOPENING OF CLOSTER SCHOOL
By Jay Levin, Staff Writer, North Jersey Media Group
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
November 2, 2006 Thursday
All Editions
Joyce N. Parseghian, an immigration attorney and a lifelong Closter
resident who was active in an unsuccessful effort to preserve and
reuse the borough’s century-old Village School, died Monday.
Ms. Parseghian, 53, had brain cancer, her family said.
In 2001, Ms. Parseghian served on a citizens committee advocating the
renewal of the Village School, which the Board of Education closed
in 1996, deeming it obsolete. Ms. Parseghian attended the school as
a child.
The preservationists contended that the school’s flaws were mostly
cosmetic, and that reopening it would alleviate school district
crowding. The Village School stands empty today.
Linda Parseghian of Demarest said her sister was committed to Closter
and its schools. Joyce Parseghian unsuccessfully ran for the borough’s
school board in 2000.
Ms. Parseghian shared an Englewood law office with a high school
classmate, Richard Abrahamsen. He called her a passionate attorney
who, in representing immigrants, "connected well with people from
all walks of life."
Ms. Parseghian, a Rutgers Law School graduate, also did pro bono work
for the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, her sister said.
Ms. Parseghian additionally is survived by her son, Michael Doerr of
Closter; her parents, Arax Parseghian of Closter and George Parseghian
of Hackensack; and a brother, George Parseghian Jr. of Closter.
Visitation is 5 to 9 tonight at St. Leon Armenian Church, 12-61 Saddle
River Road, Fair Lawn. The funeral is 10 a.m. Friday at the church,
with interment at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus.
William G. Basralian Funeral Service in Oradell is handling
arrangements.
The family suggests donations to the church.