Lamson B. Smith ’37

Publisher and public relations banker Lamp Smith died Nov. 29, 1997, after battling leukemia and peripheral vascular disease. He leaves his wife, Claire; children Caron, Todd '68, and Steven by his first wife, Grace; stepchildren Melissa, Martin, and William from his marriage to Melissa; and Claire's sons Marc, Peter, and John. He had 16 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

At The Hill, Lamp was on the News board, played tennis and soccer, and captained the form basketball team. He majored in politics at Princeton, played varsity tennis, and joined Campus.

He joined his father in publishing the Ramapo Valley Independent, a country weekly in Suffern. Drafted into the Navy in 1943, he was communications officer on an oiler, seeing action in the Luzon, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Japanese homeland. He came out after 25 months as a lieutenant (jg) with four Battle Stars.

He then spent 15 years as editor, publisher, and business manager of the Independent and of the Mahwah [N.J.] Star. After selling these, he worked at First Natl. City Bank for 16 years, where he became v.p. of public relations. He retired in 1980 for golf and bridge in North Carolina.

He was director, treasurer, and chairman of the board of the Ramapo chapter of the American Red Cross, and worked for the Good Samaritan Hospital, Suffern Chamber of Commerce, Suffern Free Library, and Ramapo Valley Concerts Assn.

The Class of 1937