Edwin Richard Smith Jr. ’55

Dick Smith died of lung cancer Sept. 30, 2003.

He was born in Cumberland, Md., and raised in Baltimore and Denver, where he attended East Denver High School. At Princeton he majored in economics and wrote his thesis on "Monopoly Aspects of the Present-day Oil Industry." He joined Dial Lodge and played IAA football, basketball, and golf.

Dick graduated with honors and then served in the Air Force as a SAC B-47 bomber pilot. While stationed at Little Rock, Ark., he met and married Barbara Gail Puller. In 1959 he joined Esso (now Exxon). He left Exxon in 1973 in order to stay in Greensboro, N.C., where he opened the first Century 21 real estate company. In 1975, he established Rockingham Bandage Corp., a company that recapped fleet truck tires. He sold the company to Piedmont Truck and Tire Co. in 1993 and retired.

Dick loved golf (and was buried in his golf attire) and his 30-year weekly poker game. His life has been likened to a strong stable fabric from beginning to end.

In addition to his wife, Dick is survived by his sons Edwin Richard "Rick" III '81 and his wife, Ann, and Brian Cleveland .

The Class of 1955