| | Published November 2nd, 2016
| Edward Robert Smith
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Edward Robert "Ted" Smith, formerly of Orinda, passed away after a long illness on Sept. 25 at his home in Nevada City.
He was born October 25, 1937, in Oakland, California, the only child of Edward Raymond and Audrey Ella Lee Smith, and spent his early years in San Leandro. His family then moved to Santa Rosa where he graduated from high school and junior college. In 1960 he received a BS degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado and started his manufacturing career at Republic Steel in Cleveland, Ohio. Wanting to return to California, he took a job with Bethlehem Steel at its Pinole plant in 1966. This facility became Marwais Pinole Point Steel where Ted retired as general manager in 1987.
As the son of a Brown Shoe sales representative, Ted often spent summers with his parents driving through the small towns of Northern California and Nevada. These car trips fostered his love of traveling on country back roads. Throughout his life, enjoying the journey was always his goal rather than arriving at a destination.
Following his retirement, Ted pursued diverse interests including travel abroad, California history and water issues. He volunteered with Friends of the San Francisco Estuary for over 25 years, serving for a time as president. He was an avid reader of several newspapers, his latest book selection, the Economist and the Atlantic Monthly.
Ted will be dearly missed and long remembered for his gentle spirit, dry sense of humor, love of intellectual debate, scientific curiosity, maintenance of statistics, keen interest in economics and non-judgmental attitude.
He is survived by his wife Susan Wiesner, son Edward Mark Smith and his wife Anne, daughter Kirsten Towne Smith, grandsons Edward Raymond Smith and Robert Alexander Smith, and former wife and mother of his children Winifred Clegg Smith.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Santa Rosa High School Foundation (P.O. Box 11006, Santa Rosa, CA 95406), Friends of the San Francisco Estuary (P.O. Box 791, Oakland, CA 94604) or the East Bay Regional Park Foundation (P.O. Box 21074, Crestmont Station, Oakland, Ca 94620).
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA