Arthur T. Gregorian

He was born in Rahvah, on the western shore of Lake Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, of Armenian parents, and died on January 14, 2003, in Concord, Massachusetts.

The business flourished and in 1940, Arthur was able to move east across the Charles River to larger quarters on Washington Street in Newton Lower Falls.

[citation needed] In his new store in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts (42°19′34.75″N 71°15′17.10″W / 42.3263194°N 71.2547500°W / 42.3263194; -71.2547500), Gregorian finally had the space for his customers to come to him to see his rugs.

In 1965 and again in 1989, additions were made to the two buildings, which resulted in 40,000 square feet (4,000 m2) of space divided into 10 galleries and over 6,000 rugs on display.

Phebe was regional president of the Girl Scouts and founding Director of the United Nation's Asian Women's Institute.

[citation needed] Perhaps Greogrian's most important legacy has been in his study, writing, filmmaking, collecting and lectures on oriental rugs.

Fluent in Armenian, Turkish and Persian, he spent months at a time in the bazaars of Afghanistan, Armenia and Iran buying rugs and filming his bargaining and travels with a 16 mm Bell and Howell movie camera.

[citation needed] He also wrote a book with his wife, Phebe, entitled Armenag's Story, about his own travels by ox-cart from his Armenian home to a British refugee camp in Basra in present-day Iraq.