GLENDALE — Varoujan Ekserdjian was born in Cairo, Egypt, the middle son of immigrant parents Sepon Ekserdjian and Marie Azadian who settled in Egypt from Istanbul and Kaiseri in 1912 and 1909, respectively.
Varoujan Ekserdjian spent his early childhood and youth in Heliopolis and attended the Noubarian Armenian School and the Geozubeuyukian College.
He was an active member of the HMEM Nubar basketball team for many years.
Following his Armenian schooling, he attended the English Mission College in Cairo from where he received his diploma. Upon graduation he specialized in the construction business, completing the Cambridge Engineering and Contracting Course. During WW II he worked at the US Army base in Egypt in the Cartography Department, and after the war, at the Cairo International Airport.
As a contractor he built many structures in Egypt, such as the Aydzemnig Armenian Retirement Home in Heliopolis, the Archives Building of the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church in Cairo, and various buildings in Heliopolis, Mokattam, Mouski, Mariout and Alexandria.
He also built the Heliopolis Sporting Club’s Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz Mosque. The Mosque was consecrated in 1962 by Egypt’s Vice President Hussein el-Shafei and the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut who congratulated Ekserdjian as the first Christian engineer/contractor designated with the building of a Mosque.
