Alexander Nikolaevich was distinguished by exceptional moral qualities and kindness. His heart was always open to those in need, and he did not rest until he helped. In one village after a fire, he built houses for peasants and churches at his own expense, and in Penza, he opened a primary school. In his ancestral estate in the village of Prokazna, Penza province, Aropov engaged in charity and was likely the benefactor of the Mikhailo-Archangel Church, built by his ancestors.

The general did not shy away from the poor and generously spent on good deeds. In 1869, when the Penza nobles decided to hold a dinner in his honor, he ordered that the collected funds be given to those starving due to crop failure. The money was sent to the Penza Zemstvo administration to help widows with children. There is a known case when a poor man lost his outer clothing, and the general, handing him a banknote, said: "Do not grieve, brother, here is one hundred rubles for you." In the morning, around 7 o'clock, Alexander Nikolaevich loved to walk and give money to the poor who gathered near his house.

Alexander Nikolaevich Aropov did not suffer at the hands of the Bolsheviks, as he did not live to see their arrival, but his descendants and remains did suffer. The cemetery of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, where the general was buried, was destroyed along with the monastery.

With the arrival of Soviet power, the ancestral estate in Prokazna was requisitioned, and Aropov's son lived in a house at 4 Lekarskaya Street in Penza. At the end of 1918, he appealed to the Penza regional land department for permission to retrieve warm clothes, bedding, portraits, and icons from the house in Prokazna, as well as items belonging to his daughter-in-law Natalia Vladimirovna Aropova. According to historian O. M. Savin, a portrait of Varvara Dmitrievna Rimskaya-Korsakova by Franz Xaver Winterhalter was kept in the estate, and perhaps Alexander Alexandrovich wanted to retrieve it. However, the request was denied, and the portrait ended up in the Penza Art Gallery. At that time, A. A. Aropov was 86 years old. The upheavals proved unbearable for his heart, and on April 12, 1919, he passed away. His death was reported by his daughter-in-law Natalia Vladimirovna Aropova. He was buried on the grounds of the Penza Trinity Women's Monastery, but the grave has been lost.