WATERTOWN, Mass. — Entrepreneur and philanthropist Charles Mosesian died on July 27, at his home here. He was 97.
He was born in Kharpert, Turkey, on October 11, 1912, to Krikor and Anna (Kurkjian) Movsesian. The family managed to survive the Armenian Genocide.
Mosesian married Dorothy Sooserian in 1940 and the couple had two daughters, Charleen and Elaine.
Mosesian came with his family to America when he was 16. Within a few years he opened Euphrates Bakery, named for the beloved river of his homeland, in Watertown, where he made traditional Armenian bread.
Historically this large, round, flatbread with sesame seeds was baked in clay ovens or in the earth. Mosesian both designed and built the sophisticated modern conveyor belt equipment necessary to mass produce the bread. His hands-on approach to marketing had him delivering bread door to door in predominantly Armenian neighborhoods. The business expanded to fill the breadbaskets of upscale restaurants around New England. Eventually, he created a small cracker that he called Euphrates Waferettes, sold in supermarkets.
The demand for the Waferettes became so great that Burry Biscuit Co. of Canada bought the rights to produce them in the late 1950s.
