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Charles E. Dagit Jr., 80, of Gladwin, noted architect, civic leader, author, teacher, dancer and champion sailor, died Wednesday, March 27, at died of complications from pneumonia at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Mr. Daggett knew he wanted to be an architect when he was in high school. His grandfather, father, two uncles, and four cousins were also architects, and the family’s influence on the Philadelphia landscape was widespread.
“Every third generation of men has become an architect,” Mr. Daggett told the Daily News in 1995. “When people hear ‘Daggett,’ they think ‘architect.'”
Continuing the family tradition, Mr. Daggett studied under the famous architect Louis Kahn and other luminaries in the 1960s, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Dagit-Saylor Architects in 1970 and won dozens of awards and designed more than 300 building projects across the country before retiring in 2007, including his own award-winning home in Gladwin.
He was especially prolific on college campuses, with the Penn State Abington Campus Athletic Building and Snyder Agriculture Arena being two of his most famous designs. He also planned libraries, dining halls, theaters, student centers, and various educational buildings at the University of Pennsylvania, Gwynedd Mercy University, Shippensburg University, and Holy Family University; Ursinus College, Harvard University German Academy and Bryn Mawr College; and many other schools.
His signature also appears on buildings at the Philadelphia Zoo, Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Cherry Hill Mall, St. Clair Abbey in Newtown, and many other locations.
“He was an inspiration to everyone who knew him and had the opportunity to work with him,” one former colleague said in a tribute. Another colleague said: “He was a pleasure to work with, he is a dedicated and talented architect who passionately loves his profession.”
Mr Daggett built his family home on a hillside in Gladwin in the 1970s and won an award for design excellence. He called the building “a white sculpture” and added a Japanese garden a few years later, which was featured in the Inquirer in 2010.
A gregarious and insightful man who teaches design at Drexel, Temple, and the University of Pennsylvania, he expresses great satisfaction when his students receive honors for their work. He has also spoken at other schools and conferences and served as executive secretary of the John Sturson Memorial Architectural Fellowship for ten years.
He is a long-time national committee member and president of the American Institute of Architects, serving as president of the Philadelphia chapter in 1991 and as a member of the Pennsylvania chapter’s board of directors from 2008 to 2010. He became the youngest architect to join the AIA Institute at that time. became a fellow in 1983 and has never stopped promoting city and state chapters at national and international events.
He writes for the Inquirer and other publications, and writes Louis Kahn Architect – In memory of the man and those around him 2013, and Founders: Architects in American History—Their Place and Times In 2017, both received critical acclaim.
Outside of work, he served on the boards of the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Zoo, and other groups, and served as president of the Gladwin Civic Association in the 1980s and the Gladwin Free Library in the 1990s. A lifelong sailor, he won local races at the Jersey Shore and the 1972 national championship, and sailed exotic waters around the world with his wife, Alice.
“He was energetic and bold,” his wife said. “He would do it after someone said, ‘You can’t do that.'”
Charles Edward Dagit Jr. was born on July 1, 1943 in Philadelphia. He grew up in Merion, often sailing with his father and others as a child, and graduated from Malvern Preparatory School in 1961.
He earned three degrees at Penn State and won a traveling scholarship and two design competitions. After college, he worked at Mitchell-Giurgola and his father’s companies before founding Dagit-Saylor.
He first dated Alice Murdoch in 1962, whom he married in 1967 and had sons, Charles III and John. They lived in Center City and West Philadelphia before moving to Gladwin.
Mr. Daggett played the piano, painted, enjoyed golfing and dancing, and he and his wife spent more than 60 years spinning the Charleston, jitterbug and Texas two-step. “Charlie was a wonderful man,” one friend said in a tribute. “Smart, talented, artsy, funny. Just so special.”
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Daggett is survived by four grandchildren, two sisters and other relatives. A sister died earlier.
Visitation with the family will be from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, March 12, at St. John Vianney Church, 350 Conshohocken State Rd., Gladwyne, Pa. 19035. A ceremony will follow.
Donations in His name may be made to St. Malachy School, Box 37012, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122; Penn State Foundation Emergency Assistance, 221 Conestoga Rd., Suite 300, Wayne Pa. 19087.
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