Margo Y. Kaiser

Margo Y. Kaiser died on January 26, 2026, following a long illness. She was 93 years old. Margo was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1932 to Helen (Krajian) Yeni-Komshian (1911-2005) of Aintab, Turkey and Dr. Hovsep Yeni-Komshian (1895-1994) of Kilis, Turkey. She was the second of five children. Growing up in Beirut, Margo became fluent in five languages: Armenian, Turkish, Arabic, French, and English. Margo followed her older sister, Shushan, to the United States to attend college. She sailed on the SS Excalibur from Beirut to Boston to begin her studies at Simmons College in Boston. While a student at Simmons, Margo met Jim Kaiser, then a graduate student at MIT. After graduating from Simmons, Margo and Jim married and started their family.

The couple moved to Summit, New Jersey after Jim accepted a position at Bell Laboratories, and remained there until Jim’s retirement. Jim and Margo then moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where they enjoyed their retirement years as Jim served as a visiting professor at Duke University.

Margo had many interests including music, Middle Eastern history and art, folk dancing, swimming, yoga, and travel. She was a talented and creative seamstress and ceramic artist.

Margo is survived by her four children – June (son-in-law Tom Campbell); Alan (daughter-in-law Sandra); David (daughter-in-law Lisa Wagner); and Linda (son-in-law Jeff Saunders), as well as six grandchildren – Heather (husband Teun Deuling), Alyssa, Ellie, AJ, Matt and Preston, and one great-grandchild – Freya Matilda Campbell Deuling. She is also survived by her sisters Grace Yeni-Komshian and Annie Gubser, and her brother Haig Yeni-Komshian. She was preceded in death by her husband, and her sister Shushan Teager.

Services will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in remembrance of Margo’s life can be directed to the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, Sierra Club, Audubon, or The Nature Conservancy.