Helen Zevart Peterson Endowed Fund Established with $50,000 Gift to Benefit Armenian Studies

Staff Report

Patricia Peterson Hansen of Sacramento, California, has established a new Endowment Fund of $50,000 at Fresno State in the name of her late sister Helen Zevart Peterson. The Helen Zevart Peterson Fund will provide funding for programming musical performances and speakers in the Armenian Studies Program.

Helen Zevart Peterson was born to Simon and Haiganoosh Peterson in Hanford, California and raised in Fresno. She was the eldest of five siblings: Virginia, Paul, Jae, and Patricia. As a member of a young immigrant family, Peterson did not have an opportunity to attend college. Instead, she went to work for a luggage store after graduating from high school to help the family. She went on to work in a furniture store in downtown Fresno and later worked as an account clerk for the city of Fresno Finance Department for nine years.

Peterson recognized and appreciated music and the arts. She shared her passions with her siblings, introducing Patricia Peterson Hansen to orchestra, theater, and travel. Helen Zevart Peterson played the piano and she and her family were members of Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Armenian Studies Program expresses its appreciation to Patricia Peterson Hansen for establishing the new endowment.