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A Name that Spells Success
Peter and Irene Vosbikian help AGBU thrive
My and Irene’s involvement began in the 1980s, and we continue supporting the good work of the Assembly until this day. I am honored to remain an AAA Lifetime Trustee.
Written for AGBU Impact Magazine 2024 by Talia Jebejian Bouldoukian. Photos by Matthew Bender.
Peter Vosbikian has made a name for himself as both a successful business leader in the household products space and as a longtime member of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) leadership. He is also the keeper of the Vosbikian family legacy—the only remaining child of a man who survived massacres by the Turks in 1895, and managed to arrive on US shores through intelligence, wit and luck to build his own American Dream.
“My father Bedros was my hero and my inspiration; my success is dedicated to him,” states Vosbikian.
As he tells it, Bedros and his brother Tomas arrived in Philadelphia just prior to the Armenian Genocide from Malatya, where they had worked at a metal forgery. They established their own forging company in 1919, creating and working tirelessly, all while maintaining their Armenian culture. “He and my mother Vartanoush (nÈe Hovnanian) established a foundational love for our heritage in a very caring environment,” he noted.
He recounts how, when his three brothers returned from WWII, they formed The Vosbikian Armenian Band with their cousin. “I was too young to join, but music and dancing were integral in my life, too. They turned their collective pain into tremendous joy for the entire community, especially for those who lived through the Genocide and then WWII. The Armenian spirit lived on.”
Among the over 100 inventions for which his father and uncle had obtained US patents was the Quickie Automatic Sponge Mop—the first of its kind to wring itself out with a unique butterfly action. When Vosbikian graduated from Temple University, he became actively involved in the management of Quickie Manufacturing Corporation, which produced the mop.
When he retired in 2004, the company’s US market share was at the number one position and boasted some 350 household and commercial products sold at numerous retail chains across America.
In 1964, Vosbikian married his college sweetheart Irene Di Fulvio. They have four children and 11 grandchildren, and now reside in Palm Beach after many decades in Moorestown, New Jersey. Irene has written two books: Bedros, telling her father in law’s fascinating life story, and The Carnation Tablet, based on her father’s diary entries as a WWII pilot until his tragic death in 1944.
Vosbikian became Chair of the Armenian Assembly in 2000, noting, “My and Irene’s involvement began in the 1980s, and we continue supporting the good work of the Assembly until this day. I am honored to remain an AAA Lifetime Trustee.”
As for AGBU, Peter Vosbikian says, “We want to help ensure its success well into the future.” The couple contributes to the annual-giving AGBU Opportunity Fund, in addition to donations to AGBU Camp Nubar, Senior Dining Centers and other signature programs of the organization.
November 20, 2024
