Obituary: Lucille Aroosian (1922-2016)

Admired Business Woman and Important Voice in Black Dog of Fate

Lucille Aroosian died on Sept. 16, in Fort Lee, N.J.

She was born Aug. 19, 1922, in Paterson, N.J., the daughter of Bedros and Nafina Aroosian, who was the only surviving adult of the massacre in 1915 of the large prosperous Shekerlemedjian (Shakarjian) family of Diyarbakir, Ottoman Turkey.

Lucille was a graduate of Pace University and was an executive at Pittston Stevedoring Company in New York City for over 40 years where she retired as an officer in the company. “She was the compass of the company. A forceful influence, an oasis of insight, determination and drive. She never accepted less than what was right, just and fair. And she knew what was right,” Pittston President Robert Chiarello said of Lucille’s role in the company.

A passionate supporter of human rights and social justice causes, she worked tireless for the Armenian victims after the 1988 earthquake. She was an ardent supporter of progressive social justice causes and human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders. At 89 in 2011, she was at Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan with Robert Jay Lifton’s Wellfleet group.

Among Armenian organizations, among her favorites were the Armenian Tree Project (ATP), Project SAVE. She was a long time member of the Presbyterian Church of Englewood, N.J. She (and her late sister Gladys, who was a genocide survivor) figure prominently in her nephew Peter Balakian’s prize winning memoir Black Dog of Fate.

A beloved matriarch of the Aroosian-Balakian family, she was predeceased by her sisters Gladys and Alice and is survived by her sister Arax Balakian, and her nieces Pamela and Jan Balakian, Lynn and Karen Derderian, her nephews Peter and Jim Balakian and his wife Janet, and great nieces and nephews Sophia, James, Alexandra, Katherine, and Nicholas.

In lieu of flowers, send donations in memory of Lucille Aroosian to Armenian Tree Project, 400 West Cummings Park, suite 3900, Woburn, Mass. 01801, or Project SAVE PO Box 236, Watertown, Mass. 02471. A Memorial Service will take place on Oct. 8 at St. Thomas Armenian Church, Tenafly, N.J. at 11 a.m.