LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION paying tribute to the life and accomplishments of
Vera Beaudin Saeedpour, noted scholar and Director of the Kurdish
Library and Museum

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to pay tribute to
citizens of the State of New York whose lifework and civic endeavor
served to enhance the quality of life in their communities and the great
State of New York; and
WHEREAS, Vera Beaudin Saeedpour of Fort Plains, New York, died on
Sunday, May 30th, 2010, at the age of 80; and
WHEREAS, Vera Marion Fine was born on March 27, 1930, in Barre,
Vermont, to the late Harry and Gertrude Fine; she raised five children
in a house on Shelburne Point, designed by her first husband, architect
Marcel Beaudin; and
WHEREAS, In 1968, inspired by the late Burlington plastic surgeon and
family friend, Bernard Barney, she packed up her four youngest children,
age four to eleven, and embarked on a yearlong odyssey to Israel to
discover her Jewish roots; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Saeedpour began attending the University of Vermont at
age 40, and proved an exceptional student, earning a Bachelor's degree
in Sociology and a membership in Phi Beta Kappa; she went on to earn a
Master's degree in Philosophy in 1973, then moved to New York City to
complete a doctoral program in Education at Columbia University's Teach-
ers College; and
WHEREAS, In 1976, she met her second husband, Homayoun Saeedpour, a
Kurd from Iran; an unsuspecting question from him about a definition in
Oxford's English Dictionary in which Kurds were described as "predatory"
led her to write a research paper entitled "Killing Them Softly,"
prompting Oxford and other major dictionaries to revise their defi-
nitions of the term; and
WHEREAS, Following Homayoun's death from leukemia in 1981, Dr. Saeedp-
our began her Kurdish work in earnest; she founded The Kurdish Program
under the auspices of Cultural Survival, a publication of Harvard's
Department of Anthropology; the program was designed to raise awareness
of Kurdish culture and operated out of a Midtown office where Dr.
Saeedpour worked as the Executive Assistant to Manhattan real estate
developer Seymour Durst; and
WHEREAS, By 1986, Dr. Saeedpour had established the Kurdish Library,
the first in the Western Hemisphere, on the parlor floor of a corner
brownstone in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights; the Kurdish Museum followed
in 1988; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the first Gulf War, which represented a milestone in
raising American awareness of the Kurdish issue, Dr. Saeedpour led Jalal
Talabani, the current president of Iraq, on a lecture tour to major
universities and to Washington, D.C. to meet politicians and the press;
and
WHEREAS, Dr. Saeedpour's letters to the editor were published numerous
times by the NEW YORK TIMES, and most recently an article about the
Kurdish Library appeared in the Habitats section of the NEW YORK TIMES
entitled "The Home as Cultural Refuge"; and
WHEREAS, Her scholarly publications, THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
KURDISH STUDIES AND KURDISH LIFE are part of the collections of leading
university libraries internationally, including Harvard, Yale, and her
alma mater, Columbia University; and
WHEREAS, Vera Beaudin Saeedpour distinguished herself in her profes-
sion and by her sincere dedication and substantial contribution to the
welfare of her community; and

WHEREAS, Vera Beaudin Saeedpour's commitment to excellence, and her
spirit of humanity, carried over into all fields of enterprise, includ-
ing charitable and civic endeavors; and
WHEREAS, Vera Beaudin Saeedpour is survived by her brother, Max Fine;
five children, Marc, Paul, Rebecca, Adam and Jeb; and two grandchildren,
Jonah and Aaron, as well as five cherished cats; and
WHEREAS, Armed with a humanistic spirit, imbued with a sense of
compassion, and comforted by a loving family, Vera Beaudin Saeedpour
leaves behind a legacy which will long endure the passage of time and
will remain as a comforting memory to all she served and befriended;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to pay
tribute to the life and accomplishments of Vera Beaudin Saeedpour, noted
scholar and Director of the Kurdish Library and Museum; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the family of Vera Beaudin Saeedpour.