One week short of his 93rd birthday, Smitty died July 16, 2010, in Essex, Conn.
He prepared at Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. At Princeton, he majored in economics, earning departmental honors and graduating with honors. He participated in the Triangle Business Board competition, and was a member of Theatre Intime and Charter Club.
Smitty earned his law degree from Yale Law School. During World War II, he served as a captain in the field artillery, largely in the Pacific theater. He won a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster for meritorious action against the enemy with a rifle battalion on Guam.
After years of public law practice in the firm of Pell, Butler, Curtis & LeViness in New York City, Smitty joined JCPenney as its senior real-estate attorney and assistant secretary in 1959. He was active in local government in Pelham Manor, N.Y., in many capacities including as mayor. He also became a ruling elder in the local Presbyterian Church and served on the Rochelle Hospital Governing Board.
Smitty is survived by Anne, his wife of 61 years; his daughters, Deborah Tetrault and Barbara Jones; a son, Elting Jr.; and five grandchildren. To them all, his classmates extend their sincere sympathies.