George Zadik Aposhian, Jr.

George Zadik Aposhian Jr was born to George Z. and Catharine White Aposhian on October 28, 1928 in Salt Lake City, UT. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 12, 2020 at the home of his daughter Sharon in Woodland Hills, UT. He was 92.

You may have known George from his schooldays in Salt Lake City at Sherman Elementary, Irving (Olympus) Jr. High, Granite High and the University of Utah where he excelled as a student and became a structural and civil engineer and land surveyor. During his young life he worked in his father’s garage, became an Eagle Scout, and a noteworthy violinist.

It was in the Granite High orchestra that he met “the catch of his life,” Julia Clare Fairbourn. She waited for him while he served his first mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Eastern States Mission from 1948 to 1950. During his mission he performed throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware as a violin soloist and singer on tour with The Utah Centennial Chorus.

George and Julia were married on Sep. 7, 1950 by Elder Ezra Taft Benson in the Salt Lake Temple. Together they served faithfully  while in the US Army in Fort Riley, Kansas (1951-1952), as the first bishop of the Valley View Third Ward (1956-1962), on the European Church Building Committee headquartered in Epsom, Surrey, England (1962-1965), on the High Council of the Valley View and Holladay North Stake, as Mission President in the Australia South (Melbourne) Mission (1972-1975), as Scoutmaster, Gospel Doctrine teacher, Choir Director, Emergency Preparedness specialist, on the European Building Committee stationed in Frankfurt, Germany (1995-1997), on the Historic Sites in Kirtland, OH (2002-2003), and as ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple. George had an uncommon love for and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, always “anxiously engaged” in a good cause.

In his professional life he had a deep and abiding commitment to integrity in building design and construction in Utah and throughout the world. He served as president of The Structural Engineers Association of Utah (1994-95). He served as president of the Sugarhouse Chapter of Rotary International and was a Paul Harris Fellow.

George was a founding member of the Near East Family Heritage Foundation which promoted the search for and preservation of Armenian genealogical records. He was intensely proud of his Armenian roots. You may have seen him annually demonstrating Armenian rug making at the Living Traditions Festival in Salt Lake City for over 30 years.

George was a master gardener and hot-pickle maker. He loved good music, from concerto to barbershop. He especially loved directing and singing with his missionaries in The Millennial Chorus in Australia. He loved crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and Scrabble. He loved remembering and delivering the perfect joke for any occasion. He loved beautiful scenery and beautiful people across the globe, wherever his labors took him, and he always loved to return to the beautiful scenery and people of Utah. He especially enjoyed fishing for trout at Flaming Gorge or Strawberry. He always had a reverence for wild creatures and recent years were spent happily watching for deer or wild turkeys to appear outside of his window.

George is survived by his four daughters Geri (Ennis) Gibbs, Sharon (Dalton) Wright, Diane (Doug) Moffat and Laurel (Richard) Warr, 17 grandchildren and 28 great grandchildren, his siblings Lois Bigler, Richard (Jeanette) Aposhian and Lawrence (Tamra) Aposhian.

He was preceded in death by his wife Julia (2014), their parents, his sister Jean, sister-in-law Leilani, brother-in-law Glade, grandson Abraham and great-grandson Carson. He taught us to have faith that they are happily reunited now in the presence of our Savior.

A private family funeral service and family visitation will be held on Saturday, December 19, 2020 which will be live-streamed by Holbrook Mortuary. To watch the funeral service scroll to the bottom of his obituary page at www.HolbrookMortuary.com on Saturday at 4:00 pm. The services will remain available to watch for 90 days.

He will be laid to rest in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.