With the deepest regret, the Eastern Diocese mourns the loss of Sylva Der Stepanian: a leading figure on the Diocesan staff from the 1970s into the 21st century, who pioneered its Armenian language and culture programs. Sylva passed away on December 10, 2022, in New Jersey, after a period of illness.
To say that Sylva Der Stepanian was a legend at the Diocesan Center would be an understatement. The output of her years—the events, the publications, the teachers and students she inspired, the sheer productivity of her decades of work—is overwhelming. As the longtime director of the Diocese’s Armenian language department, and founder of the Armenian Language Lab and Resource Center (ALLARC), Sylva was a fountain of creative ideas, with the boundless energy to turn those ideas into reality.
A native of Damascus, and raised in Beirut, she was the daughter of Mihran and Alice Der Stepanian, and born into a distinguished family tradition of excellence and influence in Armenian culture, the arts, and community service. Sylva was educated in French schools, and nourished a special affection for France and its culture throughout her life. But it was as a champion of Armenian identity, in all its dimensions, that Sylva made her indelible mark on the world, and especially on the Armenian-American community.
She settled in America in 1971, with her mother and sister Irma, and took up her vocation as a teacher in the West New York school system. She also joined Tenafly’s St. Thomas Church, where she took on the role of Armenian School principal. There, Sylva’s talent, drive, and inspirational teaching methods were noticed by the Diocesan leadership, and at the invitation of Primate Archbishop Torkom Manoogian she was appointed as superintendent of the Diocesan Armenian language schools in the U.S. and Canada, and subsequently joined the fledgling Diocesan staff.
As founder and director of ALLARC, Sylva travelled extensively throughout the Diocese, published a veritable library of Armenian instructional volumes (most of them illustrated by the late artist Paul Sagsoorian), and conveyed the treasures of Armenian culture to several generations of students and teachers. In her energetic efforts, Sylva would collaborate with fellow staff members (notably longtime Armenian assistant to the Primate Nubar Kupelian) and a host of academic and cultural figures from the Armenian community. Her fellow staff members regarded her with the highest respect and deepest affection.
With the turn of the century, Sylva retired from the Diocesan staff, but remained a vital presence in the church, and took on a new role as a benefactor of cultural and educational projects in Armenia, the Middle East, and America. She undertook these alongside her beloved elder sister, Irma, who pre-deceased Sylva in June of this year. True to their family tradition, the two sisters together were heroic advocates of the Armenian identity and culture—sharing the same spirit, the same high standards and convictions, and the same lifelong vocation of loving outreach. Our community is deeply indebted to them both.
The funeral for Sylva Der Stepanian took place on the morning of Wednesday, December 14, at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York: the institution to which she had devoted a lifetime of energy and creativity. Fr. Untzag Nalbandian delivered the eulogy in Armenian (click here to read it), and a personal message from Diocesan Primate Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan was read by Diocesan Vicar Fr. Simeon Odabashian.
Sylva is survived by the family of her late brother Manouk; by the members of the Der Stepanian, Chalian, and Tarpinian families; and by countless colleagues, co-workers, friends and loved ones. Our deepest sympathies and prayers go to them all. May God rest Sylva’s precious soul, and may He grant consolation to her loved ones in the days ahead.
(Click here to view photos of Sylva from years past.)
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