Founder's Award 2011: Peder Dahlberg

Peder Dahlberg received the 2011 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Founder's Award for his dedication to the mission of the Museum & Library and the importance of the heritage of the Citizen Soldier.

A native of the North Side of Chicago, Peder Dahlberg is the son of sea-minded parents--his father Olaf served in the Coast Guard during World War II and his mother Marion was a lifeguard captain and lookout on Chicago’s North Avenue Beach. After graduating from Indiana University, where he was the captain of the 1971 NCAA Championship Swim Team, Dahlberg competed in the first sanctioned athletic competition between the USA and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik in East Germany since World War II. His USA team won 24 of 27 events. While serving as an Olympic Swimming Coach for Spain, he met his future wife, Gloria Balague of Barcelona.

His work with Peder Dahlberg & Sons General Contractors led to historic restorations of important Chicago buildings such as the Rookery (Burnham & Root), the Emil Bach House (Frank Lloyd Wright), and the Monroe Building (Holabird & Roche). Dahlberg also worked on both the first Pritzker Military Library, which opened in 2003, and the new Museum & Library at Michigan Ave. and Monroe St. which opened to the public in 2011.