July 2, 1923 to November 8, 2019

Charles “Charlie” Edward Smith, Jr, age 96, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., passed away peacefully on November 8, 2019, due to old age.

Charlie was born in St Louis, Mo., on July 2, 1923, and would always remind friends that American Independence was actually declared on July 2, 1776, not the fourth. His father was a vice president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, and his job brought the family to New Haven, where Charlie was raised. Many of Charlie’s life stories cannot be corroborated, but he claimed that he and friends were tossing around the pie plates from the Frisbie Pie Company in the 1930s. As a teenager, he had pizza at Pepe’s in New Haven and knew Frank. Although Charlie was a lackadaisical high school student, his father told him he could go to any college he wanted, but he would only pay for MIT. Charlie entered MIT in 1942. He left his studies in 1944 to enlist in the United States Army and eventually was stationed at a weather base in Tingzhou, China, behind Japanese lines, where he was a weather observer and equipment maintenance technician.

He returned home in 1946, completed a mechanical engineering degree at MIT, and subsequently held management positions at the Singer Manufacturing Co, Flexible Tubing Corp, Robert Heller Associates (as president), the Venus-Esterbrook Co, Coopers & Lybrand, and Panelfold Inc. While he was vice president of operations at Venus-Esterbrook in 1967, and in response to a bid request for pencils by the United States Government, Charlie redesigned a key aspect of pencil manufacturing that resulted in 20 percent more pencils produced per board feet of California cedar. This became the industry standard and saved countless thousands of cedar trees. He also served on many charitable boards throughout his life. He lived in Southport, Conn., for many years, then moved to Fort Lauderdale to finish up his last 40 years. After his retirement, he volunteered for the International Executive Service Corps, living for several months each in Pakistan, Guatemala, and Thailand. He then settled down to several decades of socializing, competitive bridge, reading, working out at the local gym, and loving his brilliant wife, Florence, all of which he continued to enjoy deep into his 90s.

His avocations in life were varied. They included (in no particular order): his family, bridge, gardening, licorice, kite flying (he was supposedly the Southern Connecticut Kite Flying Champion in 1953, but this cannot be verified), proper grammar, jokes, The New Yorker (which he subscribed to for more than 60 years), making jams and jellies, pipes and cigars, macaroons, puzzles, debating anything, and Lagavulin whisky. He was an intellectual dynamo with a fun-loving sense of curiosity, a generous spirit, and no filter, who gathered around him scores of friends of all ages and backgrounds.

Charlie is survived by his children, Cynthia Smith of Los Angeles, Tracy Van Buskirk and her husband, Peter, of Newtown, Andrew Smith of Colebrook, Katrina Brandon and her husband, Carter, of Washington, DC, Alita Pipe of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Larry Eadie of Pompano Beach, Fla.; grandchildren, Elisa and Dana Van Buskirk, Tyler, Amory, Allegra Brandon, and Jessica Sellars; and his brother, Lester Smith of Suffield.

He is predeceased by his first wife, Mary Lou Lincoln Craighead; his second wife, Florence Smith; a son, Charles Lincoln Smith; and his sister, Betty Ewing.

His life will be remembered at a service on Saturday, January 18, at 2 pm, at the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Lauderdale, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Donations are encouraged to be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation at parkinson.org.