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Lloyd Thomas Smith Jr.

Lloyd Thomas Smith Jr.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—Lloyd Thomas Smith Jr. of Charlottesville died at his home in Charlottesville, surrounded by family on June 25, 2018.

Born on September 18, 1932, in Petersburg, he was the son of Lloyd Thomas Smith and Hilah Hinton Smith. He attended Petersburg High School, graduated from Virginia Episcopal School in 1950, and entered the University of Virginia in the fall of that year.

Early in the Korean War he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served with the 7th Marine Regiment in Korea until May of 1952. He returned to the university and received his bachelor’s in 1955 and his undergraduate law degree in l960.

In college and law school, he was a member of a number of student organizations including the Raven Society, ODK, the Sigma Nu Fraternity and was on the boxing team.

In 1960 he married the love of his life, Ashlin Wyatt and they settled together in a big old house on Park Street in Charlottesville.

Mr. Smith engaged in the practice of law in Charlottesville for 35 years until his retirement in 1995. He was a founding partner of the firm, Tremblay & Smith where he primarily worked in business planning and commercial litigation. He was a founder, chairman and president of Virginia Broadcasting Corporation, operator of Channel 29 TV, and a founder and the first chairman of Guaranty Bank which merged with Union Bank in 2004. In 1980 he was president of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association.

Mr. Smith was very active in civic and community affairs. He served as a trustee and president of the board of trustees of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library and was instrumental in acquiring, and renovating the former post office and federal court building for use as the main library. He served on the Charlottesville Planning Commission, the Board of Architectural Review, and the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Mr. Smith served for many years as a director of the Albemarle County Historical Society and was president in 1982. He organized the Minor-Preston Educational Fund and served as its president for roughly 20 years. He was a director and vice-president of the Associates of the University of Virginia Library, and would be happy at the slightest opportunity to expound upon the appropriateness of its mission for the university over that of the Virginia Athletics Foundation.

He helped organize the North Downtown Residents Association, and founded the Park Lane Poker Club and the Park Lane Swim Club and Friday Evening Philosophical Society. They have all been active neighborhood institutions for decades.

He is survived by his wife, the former Ashlin Wyatt of Richmond; a son and daughter-in-law, Garrett Minor Smith and Diane Auger Smith of Charlottesville; a daughter and son-in-law, Ashlin Wyatt Smith Caravana and Michael Caravana of Granville, Ohio; and a daughter and son-in-law, Hilah White Hinton Smith-Kato and Christophe Kato of Geneva, Switzerland; eight grandchildren, Lloyd Thomas Smith III, Garrett Minor Smith Jr. and Catherine Claire Auger Smith of Charlottesville; Nicholas Amodeo Caravana, Samuel Lloyd Caravana and John Wyatt Caravana of Granville; and Christian Ashlin Francois Kato and Ella-Hilah Hinton Kato of Geneva. He is also survived by a brother, Landon Carter Smith of Richmond.

After his retirement Mr. Smith bought a house on the Chesapeake Bay near Kilmarnock where he spent much of his time enjoying lengthy boating cruises. He served for eight years as a member of the board of directors of The Foundation for Historic Christ Church in Weems doing historic research on 18th Century documents, and published two books and a number of monographs concerned with the estate of Robert Carter of Corotoman and related issues. At the time of his death he was an emeritus director.

He and his wife and children spent over 50 years restoring their house at 620 Park Street in Charlottesville, which they placed on the National Register in 1998. He loved to travel the world, especially by canal boat. He had inexhaustible curiosity.

His children and grandchildren learned amazing things from his endless knowledge of the world. Highlights were training his children to love the poetry of T.S. Eliot, showing them how to strip paint and restore an old house by hand, and engaging his grandchildren’s growing minds with fanciful stories when they were young. He adored golden retrievers.

Perhaps his greatest joy in life was a conversation on the porch with family members, whether it was his parents, wife, cousins, children or grandchildren. And an evening talk on the deck of a boat, or beside the pool on a summer Friday with neighbors took a close second.

The family has requested that memorial contributions be made to Virginia Episcopal School, 400 VES Road, Lynchburg, VA 24505 to fund the John W. Gannaway Mastership of Mathematics, or to the Foundation for Historic Christ Church, P.O. Box 24, Irvington, VA 22480.

A graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 30, at Riverview Cemetery. A celebration of his life and adventures will be held at the family home in early August.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.hillandwood.com.

Rappahannock Record Staff
Rappahannock Record Staffhttp://www.rrecord.com
From the Rappahannock Record news team

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