Duncan C. Smith 1937 – 2021

Springfield – Duncan Campbell Smith, 84, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, October 14, 2021 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Born on May 10, 1937 in Milwaukee, WI to Hermon E. and Catherine (Campbell) Smith, he was raised and educated in Greenwich, CT, and Marblehead, MA.

He was a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover and earned a degree in English literature from Princeton University. After serving his Country honorably as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Artillery Division, Duncan earned his Law Degree from Yale Law School.

Duncan began his legal career serving as a clerk for a Supreme Court Justice for the Oregon Supreme Court in Salem, Oregon. He later returned to Connecticut, eventually residing in Greenwich, CT, to raise his family and continue his law career. Duncan became a partner in the Greenwich law firm of Parker, Badger, Fisher, Cohen, and Barnett. Duncan later in his career moved to Chemical Bank in New York City to become the Deputy General Counsel

In 1993, Duncan moved back to Oregon and began a consulting business. This move led him eventually to working for the Oregon Building Congress where he was instrumental in helping develop a partnership with Oregon public schools to help decrease high school drop outs and provide training programs for educators showing the crossover between the teaching of math and science with the building trades. During his time in Oregon, Duncan cherished his volunteering in the City of Portland Public Schools, reading to classes and working with students on their reading skills.

Duncan leaves his loving children, Gregory Langdon Smith and his wife, Julie, of London, England, Gordon Campbell Smith and his wife, Marianne, of Springfield, and Andrew Gilbert Smith and his partner, Kathleen, of Portland, OR; his brothers, Bink Smith and his wife, Linda, of Steam Boat Springs, CO, Norman Smith and his wife, Wilma, of Vermont, Pamela Harvey and her husband, Paul, of Florida, and Richard Gilbert and his wife, Barbara, of Florida; nine grandchildren: Christine, Caylie, Campbell, Paige, Myles, Michaela, Maeve, Willa and Neve; and two great-grandsons, Archer and River. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his former wife, Carol Langdon Smith in 2000, stepbrother, Jerry Gilbert and stepsister, Louisa Gilbert Alexandre.

Family and friends are invited to gather on Friday, October 22, for Duncan’s funeral home service at 9:00 a.m. at Hafey Springfield Chapels, 494 Belmont Avenue.

Committal prayers with military honors will follow immediately after the funeral home service at the Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, 1390 Main St., Agawam.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Duncan’s name may be made to the Springfield School Volunteer Read Aloud Program. Checks should be made payable to Springfield School Volunteers and mailed to 1550 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103. To leave an online expression of sympathy for the family, please visit www.hafeyfuneralserivce.com