Bagley Wright was one of the five principal developers who organized the Pentagram Corporation to build the 605-foot Space Needle, then the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, which was completed for the 1962 Seattle World"s Fair.
Wright, who has been called the "patron saint of the arts" in Seattle, began his career as a newspaper reporter and editor in New New York In 1956 he moved to the Seattle area, where he started his own real estate development company. In 1977 Bagley Wright, Skinner, and Clapp sold their interests to Howard South. Wright.
The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection grew to more than 200 works, becoming the most extensive collection of modern and contemporary art in the Pacific Northwest.
Virginia Wright is the daughter of Prentice Bloedel of the prominent Pacific Northwest timber family. The Wrights made a point of collecting the art of their time, adding works by Helen Frankenthaler, David Smith, Kenneth Noland, Anthony Caro, Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Claes Oldenburg, Ellsworth Kelly, Tony Smith, Editor Ruscha, John Chamberlain, Mark Di Suvero, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, David Hammons, Robert Gober, Kiki Smith, John Currin, Maurizio Cattelan and Roxy Paine.
Some of the collection was featured in a special exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, where Wright once served as acting director In 2007 the Wrights pledged their collection to the Seattle Art Museum and the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Wright started the fund drive for the Seattle Symphony"s Benaroya Hall.
Wright also served as founding president of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, which later honored him by naming its theater for him, and had been a board member of the Seattle Symphony.
