Laura Arax Zakian

In Memoriam: Laura Arax Zakian (1938-2025)

The Zakian family deeply regrets to announce the loss of Laura Arax Zakian, who passed away on June 18, 2025, at the age of 87.

Laura lived a beautiful life of grace, love, gratitude, and genuine faith in God. From her earliest years she was blessed with wonderful talents in music, the arts, gardening and cuisine, along with personal gifts of kindness and generosity that she shared with others throughout her days. In the face of life’s trials, she also emerged as a woman of uncommon courage and strength—without ever losing that distinctive warmth that made everyone feel welcomed and loved in her presence.

Laura shared her life with her husband, Jack Zakian—for their 17 years of tender marriage prior to his untimely death in 1980, and also throughout the subsequent 45 years, when Jack’s spirit was never absent from Laura’s heart. She was also predeceased by her parents Osdanig and Astrig Sarraf; and by her brother and sister-in-law, Ronald and Ruth Sarraf.

She is survived by her children and their spouses: Christopher and Kristen, Paul and Berta, Malina and Sergio; and by her eight grandchildren: Jack, Vincent, Suren, Genevieve, Lucine, Zaven, Zareh, and Lilia. Laura is also survived by her brother’s children, Caroline, Edward and his wife Charlene, and her grandniece Adriana; and by numerous beloved cousins and friends, in whom she took an endless interest and delight.

A more detailed account of Laura’s life appears below. The funeral arrangements are as follows:

Both the viewing and funeral services for Laura Zakian will take place on Friday, June 27, 2025, at St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Armenian Church (630 Clothier Rd., Wynnewood, PA).

The viewing will begin at 10 a.m. The funeral service will begin at 11 a.m.

After the service, the burial will proceed at Arlington Cemetery (2900 State Rd., Drexel Hill, PA). A hokejash luncheon will follow the burial, to which all are welcome.

In-lieu-of-flowers donations may be made to the “Yn. Diane Chevian Memorial Youth Choir Program” of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary (486 Bedford Rd., Armonk, NY 10504) https://stnersess.edu/conferences/yn-diane-chevian-memorial-choir-workshop/; St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Armenian Church (630 Clothier Rd. Wynnewood, PA 19096) https://www.sahagmesrob.church/; and St. Mary Armenian Church (200 W. Mt. Pleasant Ave., Livingston, NJ 07039). https://www.stmarynj.net/

“May the memory of the righteous be blessed” (Prv 10:7).

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LAURA ARAX ZAKIAN was born in New York in 1938, and raised in Bayside, Queens. The youngest child born to immigrant Armenian parents Osdanig and Astrig Sarraf, she grew up in a close-knit circle of talented relations that included the Balakian, Nalbandian, and Exerjian families, as well as Laura’s elder brother (and childhood hero), Ronald.

After graduating from Bayside High, Laura pursued a career as a commercial artist, studying at New York’s Pratt Institute, Fashion Institute of Technology, and the Art Students League, and working her way through school by waiting tables during the summers at Jones Beach—an experience that gave her a lifelong appreciation for the rigors of work and the people who serve in any capacity. Laura found employment as a fashion illustrator at Gertz Department Store, and was branching out into other creative endeavors there—when her life’s path took a decisive turn after she met Philadelphia native Jack Zakian.

Jack and Laura were married in 1963, and they settled in Philadelphia, where Jack ran a family rug business, Zakian Brothers, with his uncles. By the end of the 1960s, they had been blessed with three children—Christopher, Paul, and Malina—and lived in a wonderful house in the suburban town of Wynnewood, which became the canvas for Laura’s creativity, and the stage on which the couple entertained family and friends for many years.

As a member of the active, church-going Zakian family, Laura took up numerous roles at Wynnewood’s St. Sahag and St. Mesrob parish, using her training as an artist to help beautify church complex, and lending her voice to the choir. Having inherited a love of music from her father Osdanig, and a remarkable vocal ability from her mother Astrig, Laura had been encouraged as a youngster to sing in the Holy Martyrs Armenian Church choir in her native Bayside.

At St. Sahag and St. Mesrob, her role as a choir member flourished in the company of talented fellow vocalists and choirmasters. For many years Laura’s solo renderings—notably her soaring Sourp, sourp—were an indelible part of every Sunday badarak; but she was pleased and proud to hand on the solo parts to a new generation of singers, when the time came.

Jack’s unexpected death in 1980 was a crushing blow to the family and to the entire Philadelphia Armenian community. Yet in the forge of this crisis, Laura revealed her deepest inner strength and independence of character. She was determined that her children’s lives would continue as normally as possible, and she succeeded in completing their upbringing, supporting them through their educations, and blessing their entry into marriages and independent lives of their own. She relished welcoming her new children-by-marriage—Kristen Meyer, Sergio La Porta, and Berta Yigitkurt—into the Zakian family.

Throughout this time, Laura drew strength from the presence of her mother-in-law Lucy; her brother Ronnie and his family; Jack’s cousins Robert and Nanette Zakian, and Zabelle Zarmanian; relatives from the extended Zakian, Kapikian, Bazikian, and Kapeghian families; and others. Laura’s positive spirit was also sustained by an intensely loyal community of friends and relatives, who stood by her throughout the years. Her home continued to be a place where they all loved to gather; it also became the headquarters for a small gift basket business she started with her close friends Rose Hagopian and Margaret Yacoubian in the late 1980s.

She welcomed her first grandchild—Jacob Kenneth, named for his two departed grandfathers—on Laura’s own birthday in 2001. There followed seven more grandchildren, who were the delight of her later years—and who in turn each shared a very special relationship with their “Yaya.”

In 2016, she bid farewell to the Wynnewood house after 51 years, and moved to New Jersey to be closer to her children and their families. Laura became a part of their everyday activities, witnessed the children grow and mature, and celebrated their early milestones. With her characteristically dauntless spirit she acclimated to her new environment, and was welcomed with affection into the community of St. Mary Armenian Church in Livingston, NJ.

Even in her last few years, when Laura was no longer able to live independently, her virtues of kindness and generosity never flagged, and were clear to everyone who met her.

Most of all, throughout her 87 years, Laura never failed to advance the Christian spirit and faithful legacy of her husband Jack; her parents Osdanig and Astrig; her father- and mother-in-law Christopher and Lucy. She lived as a model of grace, inner strength, and piety—greatly admired by her children and grandchildren, not to mention by countless devoted friends and loved ones. Now with her passing, Laura will lie again, at last, beside her beloved husband Jack, joining him in the tender hands of our Lord Jesus.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.