Joan A Smith

Joan (Giovanna) Antonucci Smith was born in September 1946 in Naples, Italy, the only child of Italian-American Lydia and Armando Antonucci. Barely out of her teens, she came to America and worked in the celebrated Galleria Campanile art gallery in Chicago, after which she went on to establish a 14-year-career in international banking.

While pursuing her career at First National Bank of Chicago (now J.P. Morgan) she met and married James Smith in Chicago, IL and subsequently moved to Connecticut. Within a few years, Jim and Joan became parents of two boys, Michael and Geoffrey.

As the boys grew more independent, Joan shifted her attention to pursuing a career in residential real estate with William Pitt Realty (now Sotheby’s). Her keen intelligence, reliance on rich life experiences, and fierce dedication to the needs of her clients quickly established her as a successful Greenwich realtor. Through her 20-year career, she earned the respect and affection of both colleagues and clients many of whom became close friends. Joan generously gave advice and support to other agents.

Perhaps her greatest affection, above being a mother and real estate agent, was her love of family. She relished family dinners, reunions, get-togethers, gatherings and visiting relatives in Italy, Chicago, Long Island, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Occasional disappointments and let downs in the give-and-take of family and professional life only served to strengthen her resolve in the daily battle for cohesion and rapport to face life’s conflicts.

Since 2007, Joan bravely fought an on-and-off battle with breast cancer. She leaves behind her ‘three boys,’ husband, Jim, and two sons, Michael and Geoffrey, her favorite feline, Peanut, her brother and sister-in-law Dennis and Christine Smith, niece and nephew Janice and Shane, their respective families, and a soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Christine Woods.

The family sincerely thanks the doctors and staff at Hematology/Oncology Associates, part of the Greenwich Hospital / Yale New Haven Cancer Center, and the staff of Greenwich Hospital Home Hospice, as well as the dear friends and neighbors who offered copious amounts of love through many difficult times.

In lieu of flowers, Joan would appreciate being remembered through a donation to Hill House (http://www.hillhousefriends.org/donations), where her Mother, Lydia, lived and was affectionately cared for, and/or the Susan B Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.html).

A wake will be held on Thursday March 26th from 3pm-8pm at Gallagher Funeral Home, followed by a funeral mass on Friday March 27th at 10am, at St. Catherine of Siena church in Riverside, CT.