Charles R. Wagner ’52

Chappie Wagner died Dec. 29, 2007, of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Alexandria, Va.

Chappie transferred to Princeton from Davis & Elkins College after Army service in Europe during World War II. A member of Dial Lodge, he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in architecture and received the Frederick Barnard White Prize in Architecture, awarded to the student who has written the best thesis on an architectural topic.

After practicing architecture with a New Jersey firm, Chappie directed major expansion and redevelopment projects at West Virginia University, SUNY at Stony Brook, and George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., from 1961 until his retirement in 1989. In 1963, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent him to Tanzania to develop plans for an agricultural college.

During retirement, Chappie served on the president’s advisory council at Davis & Elkins. In 1997, he and his wife, Peggy Talbot Wagner, under the auspices of the International Executive Service Corps, traveled to Vladivostok, Russia, where he was the design and construction consultant for a school. He was well-known for his pen-and-ink drawings of historic structures in Virginia and Europe. His work is featured in a history of Fairfax.  

He is survived by Peggy, his wife of 54 years; three sons; and five grandchildren.