Rita Vorperian

Rita Vorperian was born in Aleppo, Syria, into an Armenian family. Her mother, Lily Vorperian, later became known in the United States as a master of Marash-style Armenian embroidery and received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Rita graduated from the Karen Yeppe Armenian High School in Aleppo and went on to St. Joseph University in Beirut, where she completed a three-year course in higher Armenian studies. After emigrating to the United States she studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern Studies, a master's degree in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and a doctorate in Armenian literature and literary criticism. Her doctoral dissertation, completed in 1999, was titled A Feminist Reading of Krikor Zohrab.

Vorperian taught Western Armenian at UCLA as a teaching fellow and lecturer. Wikipedia, citing Asbarez, records that she was a senior lecturer at the university for seventeen years, from 1983 to 2000.

Alongside her academic work she was a long-serving leader of the Armenian Relief Society of the Western United States. She was its executive director from 1998 to 2005 and also served as senior administrator and executive secretary of the society's regional executive. In a 2002 tribute in the Congressional Record, Representative Adam Schiff said that in this role she had fought to bring humanitarian and economic relief to the people of Armenia. Asbarez wrote in 2026 that over more than two decades she administered the organisation's activities as it expanded its social services in the community and its relief work in Armenia and the diaspora.

She was an active journalist and essayist, writing for Aztag in Beirut, Asbarez in Los Angeles, Hairenik in Boston, Azat Or in Greece and Artsakank in Cyprus, and contributing essays and short stories to the Beirut literary magazine Pakine. Her articles on language, culture and politics appeared in Asbarez's commentary pages and in its special year-end and 24 April issues. She spoke seven languages, Armenian, Arabic, French, English, Turkish, Spanish and Russian, and translated Armenian books, including Javakhk: A World That Cares by Jennifer Salmassian. She gave many presentations and wrote widely on feminist topics.

Vorperian lived and worked in the Los Angeles area, where she was a member of the Armenian Relief Society for decades and a founding member of the Western United States branch of the Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural and Educational Association. Her son, Harry Vorperian, followed her into community service and became a collaborator and contributor at Asbarez and general manager of Horizon Armenian Television.

Rita Vorperian died in Los Angeles on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, at the age of 88. Her death was announced the same day by Asbarez, which described her as a veteran leader of the Armenian Relief Society Western U.S., an academician and a prolific writer. No cause of death was made public.

The management, editorial board and staff of Asbarez offered their condolences to her son Harry, her relatives, friends and colleagues, and said the newspaper would publish tributes to her in its coming editions.

Vorperian is remembered as a scholar who helped keep Western Armenian language and literature alive in the classroom and in print, and as an administrator who helped the Armenian Relief Society grow its services in Southern California and its relief work abroad. Her honours included the 2002 Woman of the Year award for California's 27th Congressional District, presented by Adam Schiff for her work as a humanitarian and advocate for women's rights, a Woman of Achievement title from Business Life magazine, and the Mesrob Mashtots Medal, presented in 2011 on behalf of Catholicos Aram I for her literary accomplishments and dedication to the Armenian community.