Galperin Elya (Elja) Vulfovich (born 22 January 1948, Riga) – electrical engineer.

Elya Galperin was born into the family of a labourer, Volf Shevelevich Galperin (1906, Dvinsk – now Daugavpils) and a housewife, Dveira Eliasovna Galperina (née Abramson) (1906, Jēkabpils District, Latvia).

He studied at Secondary School No. 15 (1955–1964), completed evening school No. 25 (1964–1966), and later attended the evening division of the Faculty of Automation and Computer Engineering at the Riga Polytechnic Institute (1966–1972). Concurrently, he worked at the VEF factory in Riga from 1964 to 1979 as a trainee automation technician, automation technician, control lab assistant, senior design technician, design engineer, and lead engineer.

In his first marriage, with Dvora Petrovna Yablonskaya (born 1947, Riga), he had a son, Pyotr Elyavich Galperin (born 1971, Riga). The marriage was later dissolved.

In his second marriage, with Zelda Yakovlevna Galperina (née Smargon) (born 1956, Daugavpils), there were no children.

In 1979, Elja Galperin received permission to emigrate to Israel, where his aunt (his father's sister), Khanna Shevelevna Galperina (born 1917, Vladimir), had been living since 1977, and since 1971, the uncle of his second wife (her father’s brother), Israel Nisonovich Smargon (born 1925, Dvinsk), also resided.

Family

Volf Shevelevich Galperin (born 1906) – father
Dveira Eliasovna Galperina (née Abramson) (born 1906) – mother
Saul Volfovich Galperin (born 1936, Dvinsk) – brother
Khanna Shevelevna Galperina (born 1917) – aunt
Dvora Petrovna Yablonskaya (born 1947) – first wife
Pyotr Elyavich Galperin (born 1971) – son from first marriage
Zelda Yakovlevna Galperina (née Smargon) (born 1956) – second wife
Israel Nisonovich Smargon (born 1925) – uncle of second wife