Charles R. Smith (1855-1930): lawyer; admitted to the New York Bar, 1878; corporation lawyer in New York City, 1878-1906; founder in 1899 of General Chemical Company of New York, and vice-president 1920-1922, general counsel, 1921-1922, associate counsel 1923-1930; director of various other corporations.
Charles Robinson Smith, B.A. 1875
Born March 1, 1855 in Buffalo, New York. Died September 7, 1930, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Father, Edwin Smith, a banker; member of firm of Robinson, Smith, & Company, Buffalo; son of James and Sarah (Harmer) Smith, of Wethersfield, Conn. Mother, Jane Ownsend (Mather) Smith; daughter of Elias and Cynthia (Corning) Mather, of Albany, N.Y. Cousins: W. Snowdon Smith, '77S, and his sons, Gurney L. Smith, '14, and N. Jerome Smith, '20.
Buffalo Classical School. Second prize in English composition Sophomore year; dissertation appointment Junior year; first dispute appointment Senior year; member Kappa Sigma Epsilon and Delta Kappa Epsilon. Traveled in Europe 1875-1876; studied law at Columbia 1876-1878 (LL.B. 1878); admitted to practice 1878 and as counselor May 1879; corporation lawyer in New York City 1878-1906 (in partnership with Newell Martin, '75, under name of Smith & Martin from 1890); a founder (in 1899) of General Chemical Company of New York, of which vice-president 1920-1922, general counsel 1921-1922, and associate counsel since 1923; in 1920 helped in merger of that company (which, however, retained its corporate name and existence) with Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, of which a director since 1922; director of Austen Fox Riggs Foundation, Inc. of Stockbridge (for free treatment of psychoneurotic patients) since 1919; member American and New York State Bar associations, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and New York County Lawyers Association; awarded Legion of Honor April 1, 1927, for services in writing articles during the war.
Married April 29, 1879, in New York City, Jeannie Porter, daughter of William Porter and Elizabeth Wadsworth (Harris) Steele. Children: Elsa (died in childhood); Gertrude Robinson; and Hilda, the wife of Lyman Beecher Stowe, Harvard '04.
Death, due to myocarditis and arteriosclerosis, occurred at his summer home. Buried in Stockbridge. By the terms of his will a bequest of $2,500 was made to Yale University.
From the guide to the Charles Robinson Smith papers, 1890-1930, (Manuscripts and Archives)
