Roc Ritchie Caivano ’66

Roc Ritchie Caivano ’66—architect, builder, painter, and volunteer firefighter—passed away on July 8, 2021, in Bar Harbor, Maine, after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer. After graduating from Yale School of Architecture and marrying Helen, whom he met on a blind date, Roc started Elephant Track Construction, which designed and built houses around the country. In 1974 he started the environmental design program at the College of the Atlantic on Mount Desert Island, Maine, and Roc and Helen fully embraced that community. Roc moved to Philadelphia in 1983 to work at established architectural firms. In 1990 the Caivanos moved back to Mount Desert Island to open Roc Caivano Architects. For the next 25 years he designed several hundred projects, from garden sheds to health centers, summer cottages, year-round houses, and structures in Acadia National Park. Throughout his life Roc was an active participant at the job site, on numerous nonprofit boards and committees, and most proudly as a volunteer fireman with the Bar Harbor Fire Department. He loved to fix, create, and build things—and most of all to paint. After retiring in 2013 he pretty much painted full time. Just before his passing the Northeast Harbor (Maine) Library opened an exhibit of some of his architectural drawings and paintings. Roc is survived by Helen, his partner for 52 years; daughters Kate and Lilly; granddaughter Juniper; and many other family members.