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LAW Remembers Margaret
Der Hagopian

Retired assistant to the dean was the school’s “heart and soul”

Margaret Der Hagopian (PAL'47), retired assistant to the dean at the School of Law, died on July 22, 2009.

Margaret "Margo" Der Hagopian (PAL’47), retired assistant to the dean at the School of Law, died on July 22, 2009. She was eighty-two.

After joining the LAW staff in 1947, Hagopian became the heart and soul of the school through her dedication to excellence and her unwavering kindness to all students, faculty, and staff. Even after her retirement in 2006, she continued to serve the school as its historian, and she never lost touch with those members of the LAW community she cared deeply about.

"Margo was a rare and delightful person," says Maureen O'Rourke, dean of LAW. "She nurtured and supported our students and alumni for more than half a century. Long after she earned a relaxing retirement, she chose to remain a vibrant contributor to the school. Few people have been as dedicated to the school and as loved by faculty, staff, students, and alumni."

The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Hagopian was a lifelong resident of Newburyport, Massachusetts. She earned an associate's degree in commercial science from BU's College of Practical Arts and Letters in 1947, and began working as a secretary to the LAW faculty. She was hardworking and personable and was quickly promoted several times, eventually becoming assistant to the dean. In her long relationship with the school, she worked under nine deans.

She meticulously documented the school's history, and she worked to preserve the stories of distinguished LAW alumni. "Margo was a presence not only in the alumni community, but also throughout the entire school," says Stanley Fisher, a LAW professor, who met Hagopian when he joined the faculty in 1968. "She was strongly involved in organizing alumni events, and she often attended the Board of Trustees and the Board of Visitors meetings."

She valued the connections she made over the years. "For her, it wasn't just, ‘Oh, I met you & hello, good-bye,'" says Irene Moustakas, director of personnel services at LAW and a close friend since 1951. "It meant a great deal to her to have that contact with students. She liked it, and they appreciated it. They appreciated that someone cared about them enough to stay in touch. She went out of her way to be nice to them and ask about their families."

Hagopian was honored many times by the University and by LAW. She was the first recipient of the Student Bar Association award honoring outstanding service and contribution to the student body, in 1987. Later that year, she received the John S. Perkins Distinguished Service Award, presented annually by the Boston University Faculty Council to nonfaculty members of the BU community who have "served the University with great distinction and have made important contributions toward the goals of the University." In 1988, she received the Silver Shingle Award, LAW's highest honor, for Distinguished Service to the School of Law. She received the Gerard H. Cohen Award in 1995.

At LAW's 125th anniversary in 1997, the Annual Alumni Gala was held in Hagopian's honor for her fifty years of service to the school. She told BU Today, "I can't imagine anyone having a better time anywhere than I've had here…. I've enjoyed my years here so much that they haven't seemed like work."

In his speech honoring Hagopian at the event, Robert Kent (LAW'49) said, "It is often said that no one is indispensable. Maybe so, but this woman came close."

"The larger part of Margo's effect has not come from her ability to administer, advise, and direct the life of the school," wrote Ronald A. Cass, dean of LAW at the time, in a letter announcing thegala. "It has been a simple and rare quality: she loves people so readily and fully that we cannot help falling in love with her."

That sentiment was true for students, as well.

"I first met Margo fifty-three years ago, when I was a first-year law student," says Morton Aronson (LAW'59). "She had great empathy and understanding of the trials and tribulations of law students. Margo always went the extra mile to be helpful."

In many cases, her service to students is what alumni remember best about their experience at LAW.

"She stayed in touch with graduates throughout the country & and the world, for that matter & and they, in turn, think of her as as much a part of the law school as its name," says Paul Sugarman (LAW'54). "To the students, although she never admitted or acknowledged it, she really functioned as the school's ‘go-to' person. She was the one a student would turn to in the event of a problem or question. Margo is synonymous with the Boston University School of Law."

A memorial service for Margo Der Hagopian will be held on Friday, September 11, at noon at Marsh Chapel, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, followed by a reception in LAW's Barristers Hall, 765 Commonwealth Avenue.

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