Dr. Robert’s Obituary Potsdam, NY – Dr. Robert F. Smith, Professor Emeritus at Skidmore College, died on October 9, 2018 at the age 93. He was born in La Follette, Tennessee, the son of Elbert and Gladys Smith. He graduated from La Follette High School at 15 and attended Maryville College and the University of Tennessee before joining the U.S. Navy in 1943 during World War II at the age of 17.
He spent three years as a Navy medical corpsman with 18 months overseas and sea duty that included service aboard the battleship, USS Wisconsin. After the war, he returned to Maryville College, majoring in political science and receiving the B.A. degree in 1948. He then attended graduate school at Tennessee (M.
A, 1951) and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1955) While doing graduate work, he taught two years at Tennessee, a course at Northwestern University, and a year at Idaho State. After receiving the Ph.D. he taught five years at Southern Methodist University before coming to Skidmore in 1960. He also taught in summer programs at the University of Rhode Island and SUNY at Buffalo and taught and directed a Peace Corps Program at Iowa State University.
He retired from Skidmore in 1987. At the University of Chicago, Professor Smith studied with Professors Leo Strauss and Hans Morgenthau. His primary academic interests were political philosophy and international relations.
At Skidmore, he was responsible for political philosophy courses but also taught in other political science areas. He enjoyed his teaching, and was fond of, made friends with, and greatly appreciated his students. He loved his subject matter.
His philosophical reference was the teachings of the ancient Greeks, and he liked to declare that his hero was Socrates. When asked after retiring if he was glad of spending his life teaching, he replied with his typical sense of humor: “How else could a person get paid to read books? ” During his career, Professor Smith received research grants from the Danforth and Ford Foundations and spent a year at Oxford University researching the John Locke papers.
He also spent several sabbatical leaves in London and traveling throughout Europe with his wife and children. His writings were versatile. They included editing an anthology on post-war Germany, co-authoring monographs on the Middle East and the teaching of International Relations, several articles on political philosophy and American politics, and numerous book reviews and review articles.
Politically active, Professor Smith served four years as the Democrat County Chairman, several terms as the Wilton Town Chairman and Vice Chairman, a member of the Democrat State Committee, County coordinator for several Presidential candidates, and a County Committeeman. Professor Smith loved sports and the outdoors. He played football, baseball, wrestled at Maryville and Tennessee, and helped coach the Skidmore baseball team in its early stages.
He was a football and baseball fan and enjoyed watching professional games on television, as well as biking, fishing, hiking, and gardening. He especially enjoyed playing with his family and hiking and camping with them in the Adirondacks. When his two sons were very young, he spent so much time with them that some of his friends declared that they were the only two boys in town who had “two mothers”.
He often remarked that the trouble with being retired was that a person was too busy to have time to do all the things he wanted to do. In sum, Professor Smith lived an active and happy life. Professor Smith is predeceased by his beloved wife Barbara, nee Eggleston, of sixty-six years, and survived by sons Michael and Kevin, their wives Gina and Lynn, and granddaughter Emily.
He is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins, and many friends. He was buried at the Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs in a private ceremony attended by family and friends. Please join us to celebrate the lives of Bob and Barbara on Saturday, May 25, 2019.
A memorial service will be at 3:00 p.m., Wilson Chapel, Skidmore College. Please let us know if you will be joining us. Kevin @ smithkd@potsdam.
edu or Lynn @ 315-244-0377 Arrangements are under the direction of the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Homes of 628 North Broadway, Saratoga Spring (518-584-5373). Online remembrances may be made at www. burkefuneralhome.com.
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