Sami Edward Esper departed this life to be with his creator where he is now resting and in peace after suffering from a long illness on June 26, 2019. He was born to Ward and Nancy Esper on May 3, 1967 in Royal Oak, Michigan. At the tender age of one he moved to live in Beirut, Lebanon where his father was transferred to conduct sales engineering work in the Middle East. There he spent his elementary years learning English and Arabic. Sami moved to live in Syria with his parents when the Lebanese Civil War broke in 1975 where he attended secondary school. In 1979 he returned with his parents to El Paso, Texas where he finished his studies and graduated from El Paso High School part of the class of 1987. Sami was trilingual having accrued fluency in Arabic, English and Spanish over his lifetime. In 1982 he lived for one year in Mexico where he gained fluency in Spanish. Sami worked alongside his family in their business of real estate development for thirty years.
He married Zena Esper on November 7, 1993 in his heritage country of Syria. They later moved to El Paso where they grew their family of two daughters Christina and Ronda Esper. He was an avid reader of history. He was quiet in his demeanor, had a kind spirit and will be missed dearly by his wife Zena Esper and his two daughters Christina and Ronda. He was additionally survived by his parents Ward and Nancy; his uncles Abdo, Sami and Ramsey Esper and their families; his aunt Hessen Salloum and her family; his aunt Selma Farah and her family; his uncles Charles and Marty McCord and their families; in addition to many other uncles, aunts, cousins and nephews all over the world. He was a lifelong member of St. George Orthodox Church.
ALL SERVICES WILL BE HELD ON Monday 7/1/2019. Visitation will begin 9am at Martin Funeral Home 128 N. Resler Dr, Trisagion at 9:30 am, FUNERAL SERVICE 10 am at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church officiated by Father Fadi Rabbat. Interment, 12:00 pm Evergreen East Cemetery 12400 Montana. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church 120 N Festival Dr, El Paso, TX 79912 or to the Jawikhat, Syria’s surviving and needy women of the Syrian Civil War (care of St. George Church).
Pallbearers
Eduardo “Lalo” Esper, Christopher Esper, Edmund Esper, Michael Esper, Mark Salloum, George K. Farah, Eddie Farah, Salah Al Hannah, Marcell Farah and Michael Dayoub.
Honorary Palbearers
Joseph Abu Faisal, Ramsey Esper, Sami Esper, Marty McCord, Charles McCord, Gilbert McGuire, Nick Binyon, Jacob Cintron, Ibrahim Salloum, Bryan Haddad, Ali Salami, George Azar Hanna, George Al-Hanna, Habib Salloum, Tony Dayoub, Ghassan Salloum, Dr. Hassan Salloum, Nahed Khoury, Francis Khoury, Mike Yardeni and Afif Chehadeh.
