Joseph B. Smith, C&P marketing manager

Joseph Bernard Smith, a retired Chesapeake & Potomac telephone marketing manager, died of multiple organ failure Sept. 29 at Oak Crest Village retirement community. The Towson resident was 96. Born in Baltimore and raised in Overlea, he was the son of Ambrose L. Smith, a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad conductor, and his wife, Lillian Spicer.

He was a 1939 graduate of Loyola High School, now Loyola Blakefield, where he played football. He earned a bachelor’s degree from what is now Loyola University Maryland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the Naval Reserve in 1943.

He met his future wife, Mary Teresa Tracy, while he was hospitalized with tuberculosis in New York.

He joined Chesapeake & Potomac in 1945. He worked in downtown Baltimore as a marketing manager for the company and its successors until his retirement in 1984.

In 1974 he was named the C&P Telephone salesman of the year.

He was also named the Loyola High School alumnus of the year in 2004 and was awarded the school’s Rev. Joseph M. Kelley Medal, described on the school website as the highest recognition given to an alumnus, noting distinction in “business, profession or by ... outstanding participation in ecclesiastical or civic affairs.”

Mr. Smith was a volunteer at the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart, Our Daily Bread and Good Samaritan Hospital. He was a member of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, where he served on the parish council and was an usher. He was also a Cardinal Gibbons Council member of the Knights of Columbus

Mass was offered Oct. 4. Survivors include four sons, Joseph Smith Jr. of Timonium, Michael Smith of Towson, Kevin Smith of Timonium, and Mark Smith of Towson; three daughters, Trivia Halley of Towson, Kathleen Mills of St. Leonard and Eileen Wilson of Ellicott City; a brother, F. Neal Smith of Houston; 27 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His wife of 55 years, a homemaker, died in 2005. A daughter, Mary Alice Smith, died in 1963. Another daughter, Jean Smith Ridgely, died in 1983.