Nevada banker, community leader dies

Smith, who retired in 1984 as president and chairman of First Interstate Bank of Nevada, underwent surgery in March for bladder cancer.

He was later pronounced fit, but was hospitalized again Thursday with shortness of breath and apparently died of a blood clot in the lung, his family said.

The son of a Southern Pacific Railroad Co. machinist, Smith was raised in Sparks and began his banking career there as a file clerk with First National Bank in 1941.

After a Navy stint during World War II, he became a teller at Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas and its president 14 years later.

Eight years later, he was appointed president of the state's largest financial institution, First National Bank.

"He always emphasized that it is the people who make the bank," said Ernie Martinelli, former president of Security Bank of Nevada.

Up until his death, he was a trustee of the Donald W. Reynolds and William M. Keck foundations, two of the nation's largest charitable organizations.

He also was a director of such publicly traded corporations as the John Deere Insurance Group and Circus Circus Enterprises.

His past directorships included stints with Master-Card International, Holiday Inn and Harrah's Corp.

He was a former chairman of both the Clark County Airport Board and Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce, and a former regent of both the University of Nevada system and Santa Clara University in California.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Charlotte, two daughters and two sons.

A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St Therese The Little Flower Church in Reno.

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