Riggs IV, Samuel

29 Apr Riggs IV, Samuel

Fair Pioneer 

Samuel Riggs IV, a cattle farmer, philanthropist and former Northwest Baltimore utility construction firm official, died Monday at University of Maryland Medical Center of injuries suffered in an automobile accident. He was 82.

In 1998, Mr. Riggs gave $2.5 million to a new University of Maryland, College Park alumni center, which is slated to be constructed next year and to be named for him. Montgomery General Hospital’s critical care unit is also named in his honor.

Born in Laytonsville, he was a 1937 graduate of Richard Montgomery High School. During World War II, he served as staff sergeant in the Army. He earned a degree in business administration from the University of Maryland, College Park.

From 1951 to 1981, he was an official of Ligon & Ligon, a utility construction company in the West Arlington section of Northwest Baltimore. He retired as secretary-treasurer. He was chairman of the board of Sandy Spring National Bank from 1978 to 1990.

He raised Angus cattle at his Montgomery County farm, The Oaks, and owned farms on the Eastern Shore. Mr. Riggs, who studied his ancestral roots, was a great-great-great-grandson of Capt. Samuel Griffith, a Marylander who served in the Continental Army under Gen. George Washington.  He belonged to the Maryland Historical Society and the Maryland Club and was a former treasurer and senior warden member of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Laytonsville.