Vera Beaudin Saeedpour

Vera Marion Beaudin Saeedpour (pronounced sah-EED-por; née Fine; March 27, 1930 – May 30, 2010) was an American researcher and scholar who specialized in the study of Kurdish people. She founded the Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America, the first library and museum in the United States dedicated to the subject. The foundation was located in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City.

Early life Saeedpour was born Vera Marion Fine in Barre, Vermont on March 27, 1930, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her father sold scrap metal and rags for a living.

She grew up in the only Jewish family in the town. At age 17, she eloped with Marcel Beaudin and moved to Brooklyn, where she worked at a bakery.

They were married 5 years. Following her husband's death, in 1986, Saeedpour opened the Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America with a library in her Prospect Heights, Brooklyn brownstone. The museum, opened in 1988, The library contained more than 3,000 texts in Kurdish and other languages, as well as Kurdish artifacts, art, costumes and maps. After her death the collection was donated to the Binghamton University by her children. Before the Gulf War, she organized a speaking tour for Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani, later to become President of Iraq.

Death A resident of Fort Plain, New York, Saeedpour died at age 80 of a heart attack on May 30, 2010, in Schenectady, New York. She is survived by her five children and two grandchildren.