Peter M. Smith ’59

Peter died June 14, 2012, at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Manor, an assisted-living facility where he had resided for several years.

The son of Russell Smith ’32, Peter was born in Newark, N.J., and attended Montclair Academy, where he served as class president, captained the football and track teams, played baseball and basketball, and was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. At Princeton he was co-chairman of the Undergraduate Council staff and a member of Orange Key. He graduated magna cum laude with high honors in economics and ate at Tiger Inn.

Peter married Brenda Miles four days after graduation and shortly thereafter began a lifelong career as a product planner with IBM. He was involved in development of the IBM 3890 High Speed Document Processor, used for years by financial institutions to sort and tally all checks, utility payments, and gift certificates at the end of each banking day.

Divorced in 1972, Peter later married Sally Forte Bruner, who predeceased him in 2002.

Peter is survived by two children from his first marriage, Elizabeth Smith Weaver and Russell Smith; stepdaughters Sarah Bruner Fry and Laura Bruner; a brother; two sisters; and six grandchildren, to all of whom the class extends its condolences.