Patricia DiMaggio graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in architecture, and then worked in historic preservation and electrical engineering. Then she went to work for Osram Sylvania as a commercial engineer, and she stayed there for the rest of her career. Over her 19-year tenure with the company, she collaborated on a number of projects, including the Battery Park redevelopment and the Times Square revitalization. For their work on the U.S. Customs House restoration in Lower Manhattan in 2008, she and lighting colleague Randy Sabedra received a number of lighting awards, including an AL Light & Architecture Design Award Outstanding Achievement from ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING and a Lumen Citation for Exterior Lighting of a Historic Façade from the Illuminating Engineering Society New York City section (IESNYC).
DiMaggio was an active member of the lighting community, particularly in the New York City area, and she lent her time and expertise to a number of lighting community activities. She established partnerships for Sylvania with Green Light New York and Park Avenue Audio, strengthening Sylvania’s ties to the New York community. In 2010, a new position was created for her, that of lighting project design manager, enabling DiMaggio to work on special projects and to report directly to Sylvania’s vice president of sales for the United States.
In addition to her professional work and accomplishments, DiMaggio was an educator, teaching lighting design at the New York School of Interior Design for more than six years. Devoted to her students, she continued to hold design reviews with them via video conference from the hospital.
DiMaggio volunteered a good portion of her time with the IES for more than 20 years. She transformed the New York City Section’s Lumen Awards presentations to include music, and initiated the “After Glow” post party for dancing and socializing. She served as secretary and vice president of the New York City section and then as section president in 2004–2005.
She was also a founder of the IESNYC’s Student Lighting Competition, which is now in its 14th year and reaches out to more than 200 students in seven architecture and design schools in the New York area. The inclusive, competitive, and artistic tone of the competition makes it a significant part of Patricia’s legacy.
A talented, artistic, and creative person, DiMaggio will be sorely missed by her family and extended family of lighting colleagues. Funeral services were held on March 4 in Brooklyn, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, the IESNYC is establishing a fund in her honor that will assist New York City lighting students.
