Dr Taylor R Smith of Beacon Hill, Director for 25 years of the Eye Pathology Laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, died of cancer in Phillips House, Massachusetts General Hospital, after a short illness on January 20, 1983. He was 64.
Dr. Smith also was clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and senior consulting surgeon at Mass. Eye and Ear. In 1980, he was the recipient of the New England Ophthalmological Society's annual award for his outstanding contributions to that field of medicine.
A thoughtful, kindly man with a broad and winning grin, he had walked with the aid of canes for years. Uncomplaining, he always walked between home and office, whatever the weather, often stopping to chat with Beacon Hill friends and neighbors he met along the way.
Dr. Karl Riemer of Chestnut Hill, consultant in surgery at Mass. Eye and Ear, said: "He was one of the outstanding experts on diseases and surgery of the retina in the country. And he was an outstanding guy as well."
Dr. Smith was born in Whittier, Pennsylvania., on October 31, 1918. The son of Taylor and Sarah (O'Donnell) Smith, he was brought up in South Pasadena, California, and was a graduate of Occidental College, Glendale, California, in 1940 and of the University of Southern California Medical School in 1943. He was a resident in medicine at Billings Hospital, University of Chicago, before coming to Boston to become a resident in ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary from 1948 to 1951.
The well-known and highly respected eye surgeon had served as president of the New England Ophthalmological Society and was a member of the Verhoeff Society, an organization of ophthalmological pathologists, and of the Eastern Ophthalmological Pathology Society.
Dr. Smith, a trim man of medium height, loved sailing and the sea. He summered at Manchester for many years, and was a member of the Manchester Yacht Club. More recently he summered at South Dartmouth. Salmon fishing was another love, and for years he and his wife made an annual trip to fish the waters of the Upsalquich River in New Brunswick.
Dr. Smith leaves his wife, the former Jean Dunn; a son, Taylor M. of Boston; three daughters, Robin Stowe Smith of New York City, Sarah Lucia Smith, also of New York City, and Margaret Dunn Smith of Boston; his mother, Sarah A. Smith of South Pasadena; and, a sister, Wilma Smith (Dwight) Moore (SPHS '35) of Atherton, California.
The Boston Globe, January 23, 1983
