{"id":5039,"date":"2020-12-23T07:41:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T12:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/?p=5039"},"modified":"2020-12-27T07:45:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T12:45:48","slug":"dr-fritz-daguillard-special-by-haiti-observateur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/?p=5039","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Fritz Daguillard Special by Ha\u00efti-Observateur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>IN MEMORIAM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Dr. Fritz Daguillard<\/strong> <em>Special by Ha\u00efti-Observateur<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Fritz Daguillard, a physician born in Cayes, Haiti, someone who, from the 1980s onwards, made significant contributions to the recognition of Haitian history and culture in the United States, died November 30 in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 85.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Daguillard\u2019s family told the Haiti-Observateur the cause of death was complications from COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">His passing brought condolences from many who remembered him as a medical professional and historian, as well as an esteemed member of the Washington metropolitan area\u2019s Haitian community. Dr. Daguillard\u2019s annual July Fourth dinner parties prompted especially fond remembrances from some.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cMy mother, Fritz\u2019s childhood neighbor in Les Cayes, Dr. Marie M.B. Racine, made sure that our family reserved that entire day so that we could partake in the most joyous, inspiring, day filled with friends from Haiti and all over the world,\u201d said District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine. \u201cThe day was marked with Fritz\u2019s spectacular charisma, curiosity, and kindness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Daguillard, an immunologist by training, also enjoyed international recognition as an art collector who specialized in depictions of Blacks by European artists. Parts of his collection were featured in exhibitions at museums in New York City and New Orleans, among many others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The collection also formed the basis for several exhibits on Haitian culture and history, held at various locations, including Port-au-Prince and Washington, D.C., between 1999 and 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<em>Fritz Daguillard was a major collector with whom I was honored to work with on an important exhibit on Haitian independence at Maison de la Culture Notre-Dame de Gr\u00e2ce, in Montreal in 2003<\/em>,\u201d said Frantz Voltaire, head the CIDIHCA Haitian Canadian Research Institute. \u201cHis passing is a significant loss for the Haitian community of researchers and art experts.\u201d Dr. Daguillard acquired much of his collection while living in Paris in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though he continued purchasing art works after 1983 when he moved to the Washington metropolitan area. On occasion, he would commission art works from renowned artists. One of his favorite pieces was a striking blue and red portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which he requested in the late 1980s from Polish poster artist Waldemar \u015awierzy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Daguillard\u2019s collection also included portraits of other Black figures, such as Jazz legend John Coltrane, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, father of the \u201cThree Musketeers\u201d author, all depicted by European artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Daguillard was born June 1, 1935 to a family active in business in Les Cayes, the capital of Sourthern Haiti. He was a maternal great-nephew of the famed Haitian poet Etzer Vilaire, whose kinship was a source of special pride to him. In the early 1990s, he met Martinican poet Aim\u00e9 C\u00e9saire, who he said became emotional upon making the acquaintance of a relative of the Haitian man of letters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After studying medicine at the University of Haiti, Dr. Daguillard emigrated, in the early 1960s to the United States. He did his residency at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. He received a master\u2019s degree in public health from Harvard University and, in 1969, a PhD. in medicine from McGill University in Montreal. He married the former Rita Senna in 1967. Dr. Daguillard moved to Qu\u00e9bec city in the early 1970s to create and chair one of the first departments of immunology in North America, at Laval University Medical Center. He chaired the seventh International Leukocyte Culture Conference at Laval in 1972 and was appointed to the Medical Research Council of Canada two years later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<em>Fritz Daguillard was one of the pioneers of modern immunology\u201d said<\/em> Dr. Jacques Boncy, director of Haiti\u2019s National Public Health Laboratory, a longtime friend and colleague. \u201c<em>His research efforts on in vitro immunological response to antigens, as well as on rare cases of inherited immunodeficiency syndromes rank as memorable contributions to the field<\/em>.\u201d In 1976, Dr. Daguillard moved to Paris, where he continued his research on immunodeficiency with leading names in the field like Dr. Georges Math\u00e9 and Dr. Claude Gris celli. Living in Paris for seven years was also a boon to his hobby. That gave him an opportunity to significantly expand his art collection, which he had begun compiling as a young medical student in the 1960s. Dr. Daguillard approached art collection patiently, taking time to establish and nurture relationships with art dealers. By the 1980s, he had such a reputation in Parisian art world that art merchants, and sometimes artists, would drop by for a visit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He enjoyed telling the story of how he received, as a present, a sketch of civil rights icon Angela Davis from French painter and sculptor Jean Messagier (1920-1999). Upon arriving at Dr. Daguillard\u2019s Parisian apartment building, Messagier, bohemian and somewhat shabbily dressed, found himself being tailed by a suspicious building manager, who had no idea the artist was a personal friend of then French President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Daguillard\u2019s immunodeficiency expertise prompted his transition to AIDS research, as well as his moving to Washington in the early 1980s. In 1985, The District of Columbia\u2019s Public Health Commission invited him to take over the city\u2019s AIDS Evaluation Clinic, a position he held until his retirement in 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After 1999, Dr. Daguillard narrowed his focus down to Haitian history. Louis Harold Joseph, a former Haitian Ambassador in Washington, praised Dr. Daguillard as a significant contributor to the Embassy of Haiti\u2019s \u201cCulture Fridays\u201d series, held from 1997 to 2003. During those years, Dr. Daguillard\u2019s collection served as the basis for three art exhibits: On Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874) and the diplomatic recognition of Haiti by the United States; a bicentennial celebration of the Haitian Revolution; and the \u201cEnigmatic in his Glory,\u201d centered on the still unresolved question of the likeness of Toussaint Louverture. The exhibits were held in Washington D.C.; Nassau, Bahamas; and Port-au-Prince.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Daguillard later served on the committee for the celebration of the bicentennial of Haitian independence chaired by the late President Leslie Manigat (1930-2014). Between 1999 and 2004, he traveled to Haiti up to four times a year, speaking to packed lecture halls on a variety of topics related to Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. His medical background, for instance, came in handy at a conference on the causes of the illness and death of Toussaint Louverture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After serving on the bicentennial commission, he kept contributing to exhibits, lending art works in his collection to several American museums, such as the Historic New Or leans or the New York historical Society. On occasion, when on travel, he would either be given private tours of collections, or be asked to brief museum staffs on his areas of expertise, as happened in St. Petersburg, Florida, or in Houston, Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Until the end of his life, Dr. Daguillard maintained his lifelong personal connection with France. In 2002, he witnessed the transfer of novelist Alexandre Dumas\u2019 remains to the Pantheon, France\u2019s national hall of heroes, as a guest of the country\u2019s government.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Five years later, he was back in Paris to witness the installation of his friend, novelist Dominique Fernandez, at the Acad\u00e9mie Fran\u00e7aise. He and Mr. Fernandez had conducted a joint lecture tour of Haiti a few years earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Not long before his passing, Dr. Daguillard was asked about his work on Haiti\u2019s bicentennial. He agreed those years probably ranked among the most satisfying in his life. A humble an affable person, he just said: \u201cI had the opportunity to make a small contribution to historical research in my homeland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was a blessing knowing him and appreciating his dedication to art and his kindness to friends and all. The staff and editors of the Haiti-Observateur reiterate their sympathy to his survivors, who include his wife Rita, his son Robert and wife, as well as two grandchildren.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A Memorial gathering will be held in Summer of 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">RAJ In collaboration 23 December 2020<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cet article est publi\u00e9 par l\u2019hebdomadaire<strong> Ha\u00efti-Observateur (<\/strong>New York) <strong>VOL. L No. 50, <\/strong>\u00e9dition du 23 d\u00e9cembre 2020<strong>, <\/strong>et se trouve en<strong> P. 15 \u00e0\u00a0: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/H-O-23december-2020.pdf\">http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/H-O-23december-2020.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IN MEMORIAM Dr. Fritz Daguillard Special by Ha\u00efti-Observateur Fritz Daguillard, a physician born in Cayes, Haiti, someone who, from the 1980s onwards, made significant contributions to the recognition of Haitian history and culture in the United States, died November 30 in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 85. Dr. Daguillard\u2019s family told the Haiti-Observateur the cause of death was complications from COVID-19. His passing brought condolences from many who remembered him as a medical professional and historian, as well as an esteemed member of the Washington metropolitan area\u2019s Haitian community. Dr. Daguillard\u2019s&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,20,32,45],"tags":[4176,4179,4174,4177,604,4175,4178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5039"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5041,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5039\/revisions\/5041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}