John (Jack) Tobey Daggett, Jr, a former long-time summer resident of Martha’s Vineyard, died at his home in Glenmore, Keswick, Va. on Oct. 28, his 98th birthday.
John was born Oct. 28, !928 in Boston , the son of John Tobey Daggett and Emily Chambers Daggett, of.Marblehead. He is a direct descendant of John Howland, one of the Mayflower pilgrims and John Daggett, one of seven men who were granted land on Martha’s Vineyard by the Thomas Mayhew family around 1642.
He attended Marblehead schools and played guard for four years on the high school football team. He went to Mount Herman School for Boys in Gill, where he was introduced to the sport of wrestling which he dearly loved. He received his A.B. from Bowdoin College (1951) and was elected vice president of his class.
Soon after joining the U.S. Army in 1951 he was chosen to serve in the National Security Agency, stationed in Arlington, Va. until his discharge in 1954.
He began a career selling medical supplies for Becton Dickenson & Co, Rutherford, N.J. in their mid-west territory and became its top national salesman. Thus began a highly successful career in sales and sales management for supplies and instruments to the biomedical industry. Having established connections in the biomedical field he joined Management Recruiters in Boston and concentrated on the search for personnel to fill executive positions in that industry.
The Daggett family has an extensive history on Martha’s Vineyard. Jack and his family were summer residents at the Daggett homestead, Cedar Tree Neck, West Tisbury, until 1988. The Cedar Tree Neck estate had formerly been the longtime residence and farm of Obed Daggett, Jack’s grandfather, and much of the original land from the property had been transferred to the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation in 1967 to form the core of what is today Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary.
Taught to sail by his father and, following in the tradition of his mariner ancestors, Jack developed a love for the sea and the sport of sailing. In 1964, when sailing his Olympic Class Flying Dutchman sailboat on Michigan’s Lake St. Clair in the final race of the summer (always with his wife Jan in the trapeze) he placed third for the season.
He retired to Charlottesville, Va. in 1988. No longer tied to the maintenance of a second home, he and Jan enjoyed cruising the world. Music and art played important roles in Jack’s life. He sang in the glee clubs of his schools, enjoyed attending the Metropolitan Opera in NYC and the Charlottesville Tuesday Evening Concerts. Always interested in different art forms, Jack began making sculpture using copper pipe to form figures, tables, chairs, candelabra, decorative screens and bird feeders. The works were exhibited at local galleries in Charlottesville. Both local collectors and others throughout the U.S. purchased his sculpture. The late Lydia Gasman, a renowned art historian and UVA art history professor, commissioned several pieces.
He was an indefatigable fundraiser for his schools and local causes such as Charlottesville’s Christmas in April program. In 2021, he received Bowdoin College’s Polar Bear Award for his outstanding success in raising funds for the college.
Jack was a former member of the Edgartown Yacht Club, the Grosse Pointe Sail Club, and Charlottesville’s Beacon Club (past-president). He was a member of the Chilmark Community Church.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Janet Hoffman Daggett, to whom he was married for 68 years; his son, Gregg; daughter-in-law Karei; and granddaughter, Jennifer; all of whom reside in Keswick, Va. He was preceded in death by his youngest son, Peter Daggett.
A memorial service will be held on Martha’s Vineyard at a later date in the spring or summer of 2027.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to: Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, PO Box 3000 PMB 3162, West Tisbury, MA 02575, or online at sheriffsmeadow.org.