Roger C. Vogler

1927 - 2020

ROCHESTER - Roger C. Vogler, 92, Architect, Author, Dedicated loving husband and father, died March 25, 2020 at home in Rochester, N.H., with family including his two spoiled dogs, after battling Alzheimer's Disease for several years.

Born December 31, 1927 to Elinor C. and William H. Vogler of Wellesley, Mass., he grew up with an open mind and a curious nature which turned into a lifelong passion for education. His life was full of art in all it's infinite forms along with music and delicious food from all corners of the world.

Roger was especially fond of classical music, having grown up listening to his mother, an accomplished pianist with the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, perform on her grand piano at home. Soon after attending his first symphony concert in 1944, he became a loyal Boston Symphony Orchestra season ticket holder and remained one for over 60 years.

Roger enjoyed traveling; making friends and discovering the joy of learning about other cultures and different points of view-especially in India, which held a special place in his heart and where he felt very much at home.

Some of his many other interests included hiking, playing bridge, opera, photography, Shakespeare, Broadway Musicals, watching the Red Sox, and cooking, especially Italian and Indian dinners, usually with a delightful slide show to follow, slide shows were always accompanied by his bemusing narrations.

After graduating high school in 1944, Roger completed a year at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and went on to serve two years in the US Army Air Force in Korea. He returned to the United States in 1946 and resumed his education, majoring in Architecture at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Roger left Harvard after his first year and spent the following year touring Europe on a motorbike. He then returned to the US to continue his education and spent another three years studying Liberal Arts at Williams College. Roger graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1953 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree.

Roger met and married Elizabeth (Bette) Vanderpot in 1955 in Boston's Old North Church. The two got to know each other chatting about art while sharing an elevator in an apartment building in Boston where they both lived at the time.

Roger became General Partner at Wood and Vogler Architects in Belmont, Mass., in 1963.

In 1968, he was given an opportunity by the US Agency for International Development to be an architectural planning consultant at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. Naturally, he accepted and soon moved overseas with his wife, young son Ned, and two Irish Terriers. Roger and his family lived in India for three years before moving back to the United States in 1971.

Roger and Bette purchased a circa 1770 farmhouse in Epping, N.H. to be close to nature (and not much else), where they stayed until 1998. They spent several years renovating the farmhouse in Epping (which initially didn't even have central heat)! Bette and Roger also gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Sharan, in the summer of 1972.

Roger had his own consulting firm in Exeter, N.H., for 11 years (1972-1983) which focused on facilities planning for higher education and new communities. He participated in a diverse range of projects in Algeria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

He was also active in the Epping community, serving on the Planning Board, Epping School Needs Committee, School Building Committee, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Budget Committee, and the School Board.

In 1983 he became Director of Planning for the Office of Facilities for the University of Connecticut (UConn). Roger spent several years at UConn before taking a position as Director of Capital Planning and Development for the University System of NH (USNH) where he played a big role in transforming the Keene State College campus into a much more beautiful, open and functional space.

After retiring in 1998, continuing his passion for education, Roger returned to UNH as a student to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History, which he received in 2007. His senior project launched what turned out to be his crowning achievement.

Roger's project was a study of the creation of the Kailash Temple in Ellora India. Believed to be carved out of a mountain during the 8th century, and roughly the size of a football field, the temple includes incredible sculpture and intriguing dark passageways and stairways open to spiritual metaphors waiting to be deciphered. It is the world's largest monolith and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it had captivated Roger's heart and imagination since 1969 and remained "the most exhilarating and powerful architectural expression of space I had ever experienced." (in his own words).

After graduating from UNH, Roger went back to India several more times to research and work on his book: The Kailas at Ellora, A New View of A Misunderstood Masterwork. Roger wanted very much to present a perspective of an architect's point of view, and to reiterate that the temple was carved from the top down, allowing only one chance to create such a magnificent structure with all its elaborate sculpture, and not "built in a pit" as some previous scholars had concluded.

With the help of Peeyush Sekhsaria, a brilliant photographer, and Mukund Bhogale of INTACH along with other dear and dedicated individuals, Roger's book was published in India in 2015. Three generations of Voglers were able to join him on an unforgettable and epic book release tour in India.

Roger generously donated pieces of art from his own personal collection to the Peabody Essex Museum and to Keene State College so that others could enjoy them for years to come. He was able to pass along an appreciation for India and its incredible culture to not only his family, but to many others he encountered along the way. He was fortunate enough to be able to return to India again in 2016, climbing the 125 steps to reach the ancient cave temple on Elephanta Island, and again in 2018 for one last time to "absorb" the Kailash temple in Ellora.

Roger leaves behind his son Edmund (Ned) of Willington, Conn.; his daughter Sharan, of Rochester, N.H.; four grandchildren, Jack Vogler, Scott Vogler, Jessica Moore and Janis Moore; two great-grandchildren; a nephew Donald Vogler; and two spoiled dogs, Ginger and Hank; along with many dear friends in India and the United States.

"Much is to be gained by opening one's mind to the wisdom of other cultures--not least a profound new insight into one's own" -- Roger Vogler.

SERVICES: Details for a celebration of life to follow at a later time.