Robert Starr Smith

Bob Smith was born in Vineland, New Jersey, the third child of F. E. and Grace Smith. His paternal grandparents had immigrated from England; his mother’s family, the Clarks, had been in America a century longer. After the Depression struck, F. E. and Grace moved their family to Hollywood, Florida, where F. E. sold insurance for Metropolitan Life. He remembers his family’s strong affiliation with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hollywood.

Bob went to war while still 17, joining the Marines. By the time he was deployed in the Pacific, the next major operation for his division was to be the invasion of Japan. Fortunately Japan surrendered and his main Marine experience was occupation duty on Truk. He got out of the service in early 1947 and was glad to join his father in an independent insurance agency in Hollywood. He married his high school girlfriend, Carlon Jeannette Unger, in 1949. Their only child, Steven Garry, was born in 1953, and soon after the birth they moved to the San Francisco area, where Bob gained valuable experience as an underwriter with two national insurance companies.

The family returned to Hollywood in 1957 and to the independent insurance agency scene, but now Bob was developing an innovative manual for figuring property and casualty insurance rates that he called the Rapid Rater. The publication and updating of this manual brought Bob into close collaboration with the Florida Association of Independent Agents (FAIA) as the Rapid Rater became a prime service provided by the Association to its members. Using the manual increased the productivity of agency personnel. The success of the Rapid Rater in Florida was soon reproduced in 25 other states.

Because of Bob’s expertise in the field he got an opportunity to teach in the College of Business at Florida State University in 1968. He bolstered his credentials by passing the CPCU exams and earning a J.D. degree at the FSU law school, whereupon he received a professor appointment. During his Tallahassee years he was a regular supporter of the Tallahassee Open golf event, serving as President in 1977. In 1980, his main focus went back to the professional insurance world, directing the FAIA’s publication and education programs until his retirement in 1990, the same year in which his wife Carlon succumbed to chronic illness.

Many of his students remember him as a major influence on their careers. To quote Bill Brown, who went on to become an FAIA colleague: “Bob changed the course of my life. When I was young and unsure of myself, he saw something in me and gave me a chance . . . he was my teacher and mentor, and everything I’ve accomplished carries his fingerprints.”

In the first years of his retirement Bob gave volunteer support to several organizations in Tallahassee including Maclay Gardens and Birdsong Nature Center. Later, with his loyal pugs Ling and Cody, he lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, in the Bluffs near Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and in the Jackson, Mississippi, area near his son’s family. He enjoyed many golf- and tennis-filled summers in the North Carolina mountains near Sapphire and loved canoeing and rafting. Throughout his retirement he was active in investing and in philanthropy, with particular concern for higher education (Florida State, Millsaps College) and services for the homeless (Salvation Army, Stewpot). In his 90s he did extensive work as a citizen transcriber of historical documents for the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

Bob launched many travel adventures, including to Alaska and to various European countries, that he shared with family members. He was deeply interested in the personalities and prospects of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. To the end of his life he kept up a spirit of play in the family with funny poems for birthdays and holidays and multigenerational games he devised. For his son and his daughter-in-law Elise Lawton Smith he was a constant model of living humanely with class, zest, and humor.

Bob is survived by his son Steve (Elise), his grandchildren Matthew Clark Smith (AmaJean) and Katy Simpson Smith (Rien), and his great-grandchildren Simon Robert Smith, Starr Andrew Smith, Myriam Wilder Rose Smith, and Francis Audax Roselise.

The extended family is planning a celebration of Bob's life later in the year.