Richard Avery Smith, 85, passed away peacefully at his home in Oakland, CA on December 13, 2009. He had valiantly fought pancreatic cancer for 1-1/2 years.

Richard was born in Long Beach, CA on July 22, 1924 to Howard and Marcella Smith. They lived in Torrance, CA until 1931 when the family moved to Redlands, CA. Richard attended schools there and graduated from Redlands High School in 1942. He attended Stanford University for a year until he joined the communications division of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He returned to Stanford after the war, graduating in 1948. He was awarded his Masters degree in Geology from Stanford in 1950 and his Doctorate in Education from Colorado State University in 1956.

In the summer of 1947, Dick married Jane Frasier, also a Stanford student and they settled in the Palo Alto area where he taught first at Menlo School and then at Menlo Atherton High School from 1950 - 1955. In 1955, he joined the faculty at San Jose State University where he was a professor of Geology and Natural Science. He was the Associate Dean of the Department when he took advantage of the Faculty Early Retirement Program in 1987. This allowed him to teach part time and mentor young geology students. Dick officially retired in 1995. In his retirement, Dick spent spent a considerable amount of time helping his stepson, Mark Bailey, as an all-round handyman and computer/internet/website guru at his environmental laboratory business, Asbestos TEM Labs. He was also of invaluable assistance to his daughter, Julie Valentine, in maintaining and developing her her adoption resources web site, Adopting.com. Dick also enjoyed a healthy eBay business and many other activities.

As a child, Dick was driven to see what made things work, clocks first, then radios, then cars. His first love in high school was his Model "A" Ford. He was in his element with the advent of the computer age. He could spend hours making his two or three computers do their tricks. He enjoyed creating web sites and worked on several sites including Adopting.com (www.adopting.com), eClipsys (www.eclipsystems.com), Asbestos TEM Laboratories (www.asbestostemlabs.com) and National Association of Geoscience Teachers (nagt-fws.org). Click here for Dick's personal web site originally located at this address. He was also an enthusiastic coin collector and the family genealogy researcher tracing his family lineage to the early 1700's. He liked watching football, listening to music - Gilbert and Sullivan being a particular favorite - and telling jokes with a subtle play on words which he did even in his last days.

Dick was active with the Peace Corps for many years. The most notable assignment came in 1964 when he served as the SJSU liaison to the Peace Corps. He, Jane and their four children lived in Hilo, Hawaii and then in the Philippines while Dick trained Peace Corps volunteers from SJSU. Dick was passionate about the Peace Corps and loved telling interesting and funny stories about his experiences.

Dr. Smith was predeceased by his parents and his first wife, Jane Frasier-Smith. He is survived by his second wife, Delcye Bailey-Smith of Oakland, his sister, Patti Brown of Napa, his son Kenneth Frasier Smith and wife Suzette of Benicia, daughters Julie Valentine of Palo Alto, Holly Liberatore and husband William of Mountain View and Jeannette Smith and husband Scott of Pleasanton. He is survived by six grandchildren (Merissa Smith and her partner Chris Clark, Madison, Amber and Erickson Valentine and Ryan and Emily Liberatore) and two great-grand children (Zoe and Adrian Smith Clark). He also leaves behind his stepson Mark Bailey, his wife Leigh and Mark's children Aurora and Amanda Bailey, and his stepson Robert Bailey, his wife Alice and their children Jessie and Joshua Bailey.