Jules Smith Sr., of Renaissance Festival
Jules Smith Sr., who brought the popular Renaissance Festival to Maryland, died Thursday in his Minnesota home, according to his family, who said he died of natural causes. He was 88.
Mr. Smith co-founded the festival in 1971 in Minnesota. In 1977, he brought the festival to Maryland on a plot of land near Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia.
“My father happened to be having a drink with [Columbia developer] Jim Rouse and said he was thinking of starting a Renaissance fair,” said festival president Jules Smith Jr. “That’s how we ended up in Columbia for our first eight years.”
In 1985 the elder Mr. Smith moved the festival to its current home in Anne Arundel County, and turned it over to Mr. Smith Jr. the next year.
“He was really an inspiration in the way the festival operated and the way we try to work with our participants and performers. We have a pretty good reputation, and I think a lot of that is from the foundation he created,” his son said.
The elder Mr. Smith’s legacy is carried on by four of his six children who run the festival. Mr. Smith Jr., 60, has been managing it since 1986. His father was the largest shareholder of the company until the younger Smith became president in 2010. Justin Smith, 56, is the food and beverage director; Mark Smith, 59, is the physical plant manager and Adam Smith, 51, is the construction and decoration supervisor.
Mr. Smith Sr. is also survived by a daughter, Ann McGlennen, 53, of Minnesota and another son, Jonathan Smith, 48, of Milwaukee, Wisc., as well as seven grandchildren.
The festival, which opened this season Aug. 25 and runs through Oct. 21, is filled with role players and those dressed in medieval costumes. It also includes jousting and street entertainment such as juggling and knighting ceremonies.
While the festival has become an institution in Maryland, it wasn’t Mr. Smith’s only accomplishment.
He practiced law for 52 years before retiring about 10 years ago in Minnesota. There, he was on the metropolitan planning commission for 32 years, and at one point was city attorney for 18 municipalities at the same time.
He taught at the University of Minnesota for 28 years. In the 1960s, he was a chair of the Minnesota Republican party for about a year and ran for Congress.
Mr. Smith was known as a kind soul and a gentle giant at 6-foot-9, Ms. McGlennen said. She said that while he gave his children his height — she is the shortest at 5-foot-11 and her brothers are all at least 6 feet tall — he also passed on his passion for family and community.
Ms. McGlennen said he and his wife, the former Mary Ann Dube, stressed family life.
“My mother passed away 30 years ago,” she said, “but when she was alive they believed in raising us with integrity and honesty. He really loved his grandkids and being an active part of family life.
“He believed in doing a lot to support the community he lived in,” she added. “He believed everyone needs to contribute to make the community better.”
Mr. Smith Jr. said their father also passed on a love for the Renaissance era.
“These fairs came to life in the counterculture era. This was the way to express yourself without being militant or too aggressive,” he said. “At the festival, you can experience chivalry and become someone you’re not in your real life. You can be a nobleman, a wizard or a witch, or whatever you want to pursue. It was really the first type of role-playing.” photo — a May 1961 image of Gen. Park Chung-hee, in an army cap and sunglasses, observing a march of military cadets in Seoul two days after seizing power in a coup. For most South Koreans, it was the first time they saw the anti-communist dictator who would rule the country for nearly 20 years before being assassinated in 1979.
Mr. Kim left the AP later in 1987 and worked as a photo editor for Time magazine during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He immigrated to the United States in 1993 and settled in New York.