Dimitra M. Tangires

Dimitra M. Tangires

(July 22, 1955 – May 12, 2021)

Dimitra M. Tangires was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland—the daughter of William Tangires and the late Georgia Topal Tangires and sister to Helen Tangires (Dennis K. McDaniel) and Mary Wojnowski (Michael Wojnowski). She died at age 65 after a long battle with cancer,

Dimi, as she was known to friends and family, graduated from Roland Park Country School in 1973 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 1977. 

Her professional career was launched in downtown Baltimore during the urban renaissance of the 1980s, when she was a staff designer in the burgeoning commercial furniture sales and supply industry. From 1984 to 1990 she was an interior design coordinator in the facilities, design, and construction department at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was engaged in the planning, design, and preparation of the institution’s most significant interior design and capital improvement projects, most notably the Meyerhoff Center and the Wilmer Eye Institute.  She was instrumental in formulating public awareness of the role and responsibility of design professionals to quality of life issues of public health, safety, and welfare, while remaining sensitive to historic preservation. One of her more memorable projects was working on the conversion of the Phipps Clinic to office space after the 1912 landmark was spared demolition.

In 1992 she received a Certificate in Real Estate Development from the Johns Hopkins School of Continuing Studies, Alan L. Berman Real Estate Institute, and managed her own interior design practice for the next few decades--taking on a variety of residential and commercial design projects throughout Baltimore, Washington, Annapolis, and the Eastern Shore. She had a particular flare for impromptu sketching of ideas, followed by the careful preparation of presentation boards that gave her clients clear choices. She also took pleasure in selecting the perfect colors, materials, and furnishings—and in some cases one-of-a-kind antiques—to finish off custom jobs.

In 2001 Dimitra turned her attention to advancing architectural and interior design education through creative learning models, including community service projects, collaborative exhibits within the design industry, designer show houses, traveling displays, and other methods for engaging artists, students, and industry professionals. As an Instructor she spearheaded the development of the interior design program in the Department of Architecture & Interior Design in the School of Business Computing and Technical Studies at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), where she received tenure in 2008 and remained on the faculty until retirement in 2015.

A vital part of her effort was establishing a strong curriculum at AACC, giving the community college student a four-year experience at a two-year school. She had a passion for teaching and for getting her students to recognize their own talents.  She brought an active approach to training designers through real life learning opportunities, which were the foundation of the program. These career enhancing studies were instrumental in gaining regional and national acclaim for the AACC program, which by 2011 had won over 30 state/regional awards along with 7 national awards. She was an Allied Member of the American Society of Interior Designers and served two terms on the Maryland State Board of Certified Interior Designers.

Dimitra had been a resident of Easton, Maryland since 2003. It was there that she discovered her love of writing, as a columnist for Shore Home & Garden Magazine and contributor to ASID Perspectives Magazine; and she found an outlet for her creativity and community service in decorating for the Talbot Hospice Festival of Trees. She loved Maryland’s eastern shore, travel to Europe, collecting antiques, exploring residential real estate, and getaways to Bethany Beach, Oxford, and St. Michael’s. Friends and family will remember her love of the salty ocean breezes, barefoot walks on the beach, collecting seashells, and the sights and sounds of eagles and osprey in flight.

Donations may be made to Mid-Shore Community Foundation Tangires Design Excellence Fund mscf.org102 E. Dover St. Easton Md 21601