Garo H. Voskerijian

Everyone's Favorite Santa
Garo Voskerijian was like this, said his friend Shemavon Atamian: every year at the Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School in Bayside, Queens, where their children were enrolled, he had to play Santa Claus, by popular acclaim.

Mr. Voskerijian, 43, was tall and husky, but beyond that, he had the attitude of a Kris Kringle. He hated to see anyone unhappy, and spent untold hours trying to unravel problems for friends, loved ones and co-workers at Marsh & McLennan, where he worked in global technology services. "He was madly in love with his work and with his company," said his widow, Nayda, who was introduced to him in 1985 after Mr. Voskerijian's mother spotted her at a party. "He would create outings, whether bowling or baseball, and just lift up the morale of his whole department."

Mr. Voskerijian became famous for his memos praising someone else's accomplishments. "I felt he truly cared about his workers," said Randi Abraham, a longtime colleague, "and it's not often that you find that."

Everyone in the office also knew how he felt about his wife and his children, 12, 8 and 6. "I used to say, if I ever got married I would want to have a marriage like his," Ms. Abraham said. "He seemed so genuinely happy."