Robert Brookings Smith ’26

Bob died Dec. 30, 2002, at his home in Ladue, Mo. He was 99.

Born in St. Louis, he prepared at Lawrenceville and while at Princeton participated in football, crew, Triangle Club, and Cottage Club. He left Princeton in 1924 and joined the St. Louis brokerage firm of Smith, Moore & Co., where he became a limited partner. After advising the Reconstruction Finance Corp. during its liquidation, Bob joined Mercantile Trust Co., later becoming a board member and vice chairman. Still later, he started two businesses: Cashex Inc., specializing in automatic check-authorization cards, and National Cache Card, a developer of smart cards for universities.

He entered the Navy in 1942, serving as lieutenant commander and navigator aboard the aircraft carrier USS White Plains in WWII, and was decorated for heroism in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Until his death, he was a managing partner of Common Bond Associates of St. Louis, a research and development partnership. He was a longtime trustee of Washington U. in St. Louis, cofounded by his great-uncle, Robert S. Brookings, who also founded the Brookings Institution.

Survivors include his wife, Nancy, two daughters, and a grandson.

The Class of 1926