Professor Vahé H. Berberian, of Clarion, passed away at his home on December 25, 2013. He was 83 years old.
Born on January 2, 1930, in Athens Greece, he was the son of Hampartzoum and Serpouhi Takvorian Berberian, both of whom have preceded him in death.
On June 17, 1967, he married the former Janet E. Burke, who survives.
Professor Berberian was a professor of music at Clarion University ofPennsylvania for 33 years prior to his retirement. He is holder of the Diploma of Music in Violoncello from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut, where he was a student of Nicolas Dale. After graduation, Mr. Berberian had pursued musical training at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music in Venice and the Mozarteums International Summer Academy in Salzburg, followed by two years of private cello studies with Enrico Mainardi in Rome. He was a doctoral candidate in performance at the Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he studied with Fritz Magg. He was on the faculty at the National Conservatory of Music in Beirut and the Lamar State College of Technology in Texas before coming to Clarion. He recorded the Dvorak Concerto with the Athens Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Greece. Professor Berberian was an adjudicator of a number of competitions for string instruments, including the Carnegie Awards Festival sponsored by Carnegie-Mellon University.
Upon his retirement, Professor Berberian, launched upon an endeavor to publish the works of his father Hampartzoum Berberian, a renowned Armenian composer.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Berberian is survived by his daughter, Anahid Berberian Temesi and her husband Michael of Chesterland Ohio; two grandchildren, Michael Avedis Temesi and Myles Dirahn Temesi; two brothers, Hratch Berberian of Brookings, South Dakota, and Shahé Berberian of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and his sister, Nayiri Berberian of Watertown, Massachusetts.
Arrangements are under the care of the Goble Funeral Home and Crematory, 330 Wood Street, Clarion, where friends and family will be received from 2-4 pm on Sunday, December 29. Additional visitation will be held at 11:00am on Thursday, January 2, 2014, at St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church, 678 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights, Ohio, to be followed immediately at 11:30am with funeral services in the church. Father Hratch Sargsyan, pastor of St. Gregory Church will officiate.
Interment will follow in Knollwood Cemetery in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
Friends and family can send online condolences, share memories, order flowers, and obtain additional information by visiting the funeral home website at www.goblefh.net.