- Date Of Death: December 13, 2015
- State: Connecticut
NEW HARTFORD – SMITH – Former Republican State Senator Reginald J. Smith of New Hartford, who served as both Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader, died Sunday, December 13, 2015, from complications relating to Alzheimer’s. He was 77.Smith was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to Reginald Blair Smith and Elizabeth Wyoming Phillips. He received a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the General Motors Institute and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After graduating from GM Institute he worked as an engineer at GE’s Flight Propulsion lab and then Pratt & Whitney’s Colt Industries. He left professional engineering for a career in politics and banking. Smith was elected First Selectman of New Hartford in 1971, and later joined First Connecticut Bancorp as Director of Government Finance. He later was a Vice President and Regional Banking Officer at Connecticut Bank and Trust.Smith was elected to four terms in the State Senate and ran for governor in 1990, but eventually joined the campaign and, later, administration of Governor Lowell P. Weicker as Commissioner of the State Department of Administrative Services. After two years in that post, Smith was chosen by Weicker to be Chairman of the State Department of Public Utility an elected official, Smith was known for his wry sense of humor and ability to work across the aisle in the State Capitol. It was said he made politics “fun”! He also maintained the New England Republican reverence for decorum and respect for colleagues, often with a sense of humor. When criticizing a colleague’s argument on the Senate floor, instead of a personal insult, Smith said the idea was “of dubious merit.”Smith enjoyed spending time in a variety of activities: “down the shore” in Rhode Island, golfing with friends in CT and VT, fly fishing, hiking (he climbed 14, 439-foot Mt. Elbert in Colorado with Outward Bound) and boating. But what he enjoyed most was time with his he retired, Smith and his wife, Kristina, split their time between New Hartford and Jay, Vermont. In Vermont they had a bird’s eye view of Jay Peak Ski Resort, where they spent many winter days skiing and enjoying the Northeast Kingdom. When Reg wasn’t plowing snow with his tractor (their first winter they received 48 feet of snow!), he was hauling dead logs from the forest for firewood.Smith is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Elsbeth Kristina Storrs Gidlund Smith, and four adult children: Kris Ann, and her husband Tom Yelsits, of New Hartford; Reggie Smith, Jr., and his wife Sheila, of New Hartford; Suzanne Smith, and her partner Steve Costello, of Louisville, Colorado; and Christopher Smith and Denise of Simsbury. He is also survived by a sister, Judy Murphy and her husband Ozzie of East Hartland; three grandsons, Eric, Jason and Connor, and two great-grandchildren. Reg was preceded in death by his other sister, Virginia Bohn and her husband, Gerald Bohn of Barkhamsted.
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