Harold B. Smith Jr. ’55

Harold, the senior member of a leading Chicago manufacturing and banking family, died Oct. 1, 2022, at his summer home on Lake Geneva, Wis. His life was celebrated at the annual family gathering that drew more than 100 family members to Long Beach, Calif. Harold’s great-grandfather, Byron Smith, founded both the Northern Trust Co. and Illinois Tool Works, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. Harold had been a director of both and president of ITW.

Harold was born April 7, 1933, in Chicago, son of Harold Byron Smith ’31. He attended Choate. At Princeton he majored in engineering, joined Tower Club, and in his junior year roomed with Pete Horne and Steve McNamara. That summer he married Frederica Herriman, and they lived during his senior year at 84 Wiggins St. in Princeton.

Harold loved fly fishing, the Chicago Cubs, and family events, especially Fourth of July festivities at his Lake Geneva home.

He is survived by his daughters Stephanie Choo ’78, Carrie Grant, Polly Douglass, and Emily Reedy; 10 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and his brothers David, Stephen, and Christopher. He was predeceased by Frederica Herriman Pederson, his first wife and mother of his four daughters; and his second wife, Denise Grace Smith.