| Graduation Year | Class of 1927 |
| Date of Birth | May 14, 1910 |
| Date of Passing | Apr 01, 2000 |
| About | Former Coast Guard commandant dies in Fla. WASHINGTON (AP) - Adm. Willard J. Smith, a former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, has died. He was 89. A memorial service was scheduled Friday in Atlantic Beach, Fla., for Smith, who died there April 1. He was the oldest living former commandant until his death. He was the first aviator to have held the post of commandant. Smith, born in Suttons Bay, Mich., and was the son of Oscar Smith, a retired commissioned warrant officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and his wife, Emma Bequist . served as commandant from July 1966 until his retirement in June 1970. He was a 1927 graduate of Charlevoix High School. He then entered the University of Michigan, but later transferred to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. During his tenure, he oversaw the Coast Guard's transition from the Treasury Department to the Department of Transportation in April 1967. Smith was the first aviator to serve as commandant. He held previous posts with the Coast Guard in Cleveland, New London, Conn., and Traverse City, Mich., where he was the first commanding officer of the Coast Guard Air Station. Smith founded the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City in the early 1980s and lived in the area until moving to Florida, the Traverse City Record-Eagle said. Smith's cremated remains will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery at 2 p.m. on April 27, the Coast Guard said. His wife, Harriet, died in February 2000. He is survived by his daughter, Lary, of Bloomington, Ind.; a son, Jeffrey, of Hancock, Me.; two grandchildren; five step-grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. |
