Robert Daigle Cause of Death Lafayette, LA: Lafayette developer, mastermind behind River Ranch, Robert Daigle dies following battle with cancer

According to friends and family, Lafayette developer Robert Daigle, who was responsible for River Ranch and other comparable ventures in the Lafayette region, passed away on Sunday following a battle with cancer.

As businesses grew south along Kaliste Saloom Road and the city started planning for the Camellia Boulevard bridge, which opened in 2003, Daigle, a former lawyer who specialized in commercial and residential construction as a partner of River Ranch Development Co., saw an opportunity for residential development in the early 2000s.

Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, followed by a rosary service at 11:30 a.m. at Martin & Castille Downtown Lafayette, located at 330 St. Landry St. At 3 p.m., Mass will be held at St. Mary Catholic Church.

The firm transformed a 320-acre soybean field into the Village of River Ranch, one of the top 20 most prosperous conventional neighborhood developments in the nation, with the help of partner Rodney Savoy and additional investors.

When the two first met, some 40 years ago, Savoy was a practicing certified public accountant and Daigle was a commercial attorney, according to Savoy. After a few minor real estate transactions, Daigle approached Savoy in 1996 to collaborate on the River Ranch project.

According to Savoy, Daigle was associated with architect Steve Oubre, who had created a project in south Lafayette that was never completed. Oubre and Daigle started working on the typical neighborhood development concept when Daigle brought up the prospect of purchasing land from the Dugas family that would eventually become River Ranch.

Daigle was mostly responsible for working with Lafayette Consolidated Government to get the project approved, and he gained notoriety for the hundreds of exceptions that had to be approved in order for the project to proceed.

According to Savoy, Daigle was the operations specialist who implemented his ideas, and “my office would see about how we were going to pay for them.”