Aboard the Honey Fitz, 1 September 1963

Born:

  • 24 September 1927
  • Bayport, Long Island, NYC

Died:

  • 19 August 1990 (Aged 62)
  • Manhattan, in his home
  • Lung cancer, after a lifelong smoking habit

Education:

  • Received a BA in history from Georgetown University in 1948

Spouse:

  • Jean Ann Kennedy (m. 1956–his death in 1990)

Children:

  • Stephen Edward Smith Jr.
  • William Kennedy Smith
  • (adopted) Amanda Mary Smith
  • (adopted) Kym Maria Smith

Parents:

  • Julia A. Cleary & John Joseph Smith

Life, work, and accomplishments:

  • Served in the United States Air Force in 1951, becoming first lieutenant in 1952
  • Financial analyst, political strategist, and businessman who assisted in several Kennedy political campaigns by managing campaign finances and directing operations, ran Kennedy businesses, and managed $300 million in Kennedy investments. Particularly, he was instrumental in the campaigns of JFK, RFK, and Ted Kennedy
  • Historian Theodore White recalls him, in regard to his role as office manager and later logistics manager in the Kennedy campaign headquarters, as the “unflustered administrative chief of all the impossibly complicated financial and personnel details of a campaign that eventually was to mobilize scores of thousands of volunteers and employees”
  • Organizer and master builder of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, allocating the funds and overseeing its construction. He was also the creator and first president of the nonprofit John F. Kennedy Library Foundation that supports the Library