Lillian Murad


Lilian G. Murad was an American textile designer and the second president of The Society of Women Engineers.

Early life and education

Lillian G. Murad was born 29 May 1917 in Tbilisi, Georgia to Levon Murad and Veronica Arvanian. There was turbulance in the region at this time due to the Armenian Genocide. Murad grew up in France and studied music at the Conservatory of Music in Nice where she won first prize in Piano in 1933. After the family moved to New York Murad continued her musical, theatrical and dance studies until 1942.
Murad changed course however and began studying Chemical Engineering at Pratt University. In 1947 she was awarded the Tau Beta Pi Women's Badge.
In 1948, Murad was the first woman to be awarded a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Pratt University. She continued her studies by pursuing graduate education at New York University.

Career

Murad's first role was as a junior engineer at Pacific Food Products Inc. in Brooklyn, New York. She soon left to start her own business, Muratex Chemicals, which she owned and managed between 1949 and 1953. Her firm shared premises with Murad Textile Print works Inc. on Mercer Street, where she was Assistant Manager and Vice President between 1948 and 1955.
During this time Murad also worked freelance, creating textile designs that were featured in Interior Design Magazine. She also developed novel ways to water based pigment binders, a technique which influenced the popularisation of the use of gilded fabrics in interior and fashion fabrics alike.
Inspired by the British Women's Engineering Society, a group of women including Murad established an American counterpart, The Society of Women Engineers. She served as the first chair of the finance committee, became a vice president and then served as the second president in 1952-53 after Beatrice Hicks. She was succeeded by Katharine Stinson.

Personal life

In 1955, she married Rostom Bablanian a microbiologist at the Downstate Medical Centre in Brooklyn.
Murad taught Chemistry at Oyster Bay High School and continued to enjoy Armenian music, dance and theatre throughout her life. She was fluent in multiple languages, including English, French, German, Russian and Armenian. She died in 2004, aged 87.