Arax Simsarian, of New York City, died on November 12, 2019, at age 97. She was born in New Jersey in 1922, a daughter of Dicran and Satenig (Tashjian) Simsarian. She graduated from Fort Lee (N.J.) High School and Mount Holyoke College in 1943. During World War II, Arax served as an officer in the WAVES at the Naval Ammunition Depot in Hingham, Massachusetts, and at the Office of Special Devices and Inventions, later called the Office of Naval Research.

In 1941, during the summer of her sophomore year, she was selected to take part in a conference on International Affairs at the summer home of Eleanor Roosevelt at Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada, under the leadership of Joseph Lash.

Upon her discharge from the Navy, she was a researcher and reporter for the National Industrial Conference Board and for the National Association of Manufacturers, where she wrote a special paper on Social Security and a position paper on forced labor and handicapped employees. These position papers were referred to by both employers and employee unions to support their respective positions. In 1966 she was employed by Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, now Exxon, and while there, she was invited by George P. Schultz, then director of the U. S. Office of Management and Budget during the administration of President Nixon, to work in the White House, where she prepared reports and charts for the Board of Economic Advisors. She also worked for Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and became a licensed Chartered Life Underwriter. She later was associated with the insurance brokerage firm of Alexander & Alexander.

She became a licensed pilot for single engine aircraft and was licensed to fly commercial planes, one of about 1500 women with such a license. She was an active member of The Ninety Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots, having served as a Vice Governor. She was a world traveler and visited every continent as well as the North Pole and Antarctica.

Miss Simsarian is survived by her brother, Edward, and his wife, Lowerre, of Worcester, Massachusetts, her nieces, Ellen and Sarah, both of New York, and her nephew, David, of Yarmouth, Maine. Her brother, Kenneth, predeceased her.

A memorial service will be held at a date to be announced in the spring of 2020. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to Mount Holyoke College, Advancement Office, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Medieval Department for the Support of Armenian Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, or to a . For more information, please contact Callahan, Fay & Caswell Funeral Home, Worcester, MA (508-755-1500) or visit