A celebration of the life of Everett Gorsuch Smith Jr., professor emeritus in geography, will be held at 3 p.m. today (Feb. 7) at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1050 E. 23rd Ave., Eugene. He died Jan. 26.
Smith – known as “Ev” – was born June 15, 1931, in Urbana, Ill., to Everett Gorsuch Smith, Sr., and Gladys Mahn. He attended the University of Illinois at Champaign, graduating in 1953 with an undergraduate degree in geography and a commission in the U.S. Navy. He served on troop transport ships in the Pacific after the Korean conflict. He later earned a master’s degree from the university and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
Smith and Mary Virginia “Sally” Dietz were married on Aug. 9, 1958. Their son, Stephen, was born in 1959 in St. Paul, and their son, Douglas, in 1963 in Champaign.
The family moved to Eugene in 1965, when Smith joined the UO faculty. He served three stints as department head. Among his research activities, he studied the organization of urban space and the renewal process in American cities, and patterns and control of land use in rural and urban areas.
Remembrances can be made to the University of Oregon Foundation, benefitting the Geography Department Map Library Fund.
- from the UO College of Arts and Sciences