Birthday of Robert Keropian | First ECHS Principal

What

Birthday of Robert Keropian | First ECHS Principal

When

6/20/2025

Robert Charles Keropian

June 20, 1929 - July 27, 2023

Robert Keropian was one of San Mateo County's longest-tenured and best-known public school educators.
Born June 20, 1929 in Granite City, Illinois, he moved with his family to San Francisco when he was two. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he was the Education Director for the Far East Command in Japan in the mid-1950s. 

Mr. Keropian was an alumnus of George Washington High School in San Francisco and San Francisco State University, where he obtained bachelors and masters degrees.

He joined the teaching staff at South San Francisco High School in 1956 and worked there until he was named the first principal at El Camino High School in South San Francisco in 1960. He served in that capacity for 29 years, before retiring in 1989. It is estimated that he touched the lives of more than 45,000 students at El Camino during that time. Over the decades, he developed a deserved reputation as an administrative innovator and devoted mentor for staff seeking leadership roles in education.
During his career in education, Mr. Keropian was a consultant for 11 foreign nations. In 1969 he was named Northern California Principal of the Year and he was honored as Citizen of the Year by the South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He was a former president of the South San Francisco Kiwanis Club.

An outstanding high school and college athlete, Mr. Keropian was a member of the athletic hall of fame at George Washington High and San Francisco State; he also was inducted into the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame. At San Francisco State, he was the Far Western Conference long jump champion four straight years; in a singular achievement, he was a four-sport letterman in a single year. In 1988, he received San Francisco State's Distinguished Alumni Award.

Mr. Keropian, a member of the California Golf Club in South San Francisco, never lost his connection with sports, one of his life-long passions. For well over a half-century, he was affiliated with the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame, serving as President of the foundation's Northern California chapter for decades and, for 19 years, as the organization's Western Region Coordinator. During his tenure, the foundation distributed in excess of $1,000,000 in scholarship funds to high school scholar athletes who played football. The foundation also donated close to $600,000 to the sports programs at the two high schools in South San Francisco. Mr. Keropian received the foundation's National Leadership Awards in 2004 and 2008.