Arthur T. Gregorian

Arthur T. Gregorian, (1909 – January 14, 2003), was a Greater Boston oriental rug dealer and author of books on oriental rugs. He is considered by some to be the world's leading collector of rare, inscribed Armenian rugs.

Arthur and Phebe Gregorian retired to St. Petersburg, Florida in the mid-1970s, but around 1979, Arthur grew tired of retirement and opened an oriental rug store in downtown St. Pete and later exhibited rugs from his collection at local art museums. The Gregorians returned to Massachusetts in 1999. He was a founding member of The Academy of Senior Professionals at Eckerd College.

In 1934, Gregorian took his savings of $700.00 and moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, partly to open his own oriental rug store there and partly to see Phebe who was attending Wellesley College. The store was tiny and below street level, so he visited his potential buyers in their homes or businesses. He and Phebe were married in 1936. The business flourished and in 1940, Arthur was able to move east across the Charles River to larger quarters on Washington Street in Newton Lower Falls.

In 1919, Gregorian and his family fled the Armenian genocide by oxcart on a thousand-mile journey with hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees from his ancient Armenian homeland near Lake Urmia, over the Zagros Mountains in southwestern Iran, down to Basra, Iraq. There, they stayed at a British refugee camp. Gregorian almost died of cholera and worked as a sidekick to a hakim or herbal doctor to earn food for his family. After traveling by steerage to India, Italy and France, he finally reached Boston and settled in New Britain, Connecticut. In high school, Arthur met Phebe Ballou, his future wife. He spent his final year of high school at the Northfield Mount Hermon School, where in later life he became the director of the board of alumni. After high school he worked in a rug shop to get money to go to night school at Boston University, so he could become a doctor.

In 1936, Arthur T. Gregorian married Phebe Ballou (April 14, 1912 – November 19, 1999). They had three children, Lynda, John and Joyce (1946–1991). Phebe was regional president of the Girl Scouts and founding Director of the United Nation's Asian Women's Institute.

Gregorian did not know his birthdate. However, he marked it as November 15, 1909. He was born in Rahvah, on the western shore of Lake Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, of Armenian parents, and died on January 14, 2003, in Concord, Massachusetts.