Donald Smith Obituary

Donald James Smith
08/05/1951 - 05/02/2025
Don passed away on May 2, 2025.
Don was born in San Francisco in 1951 and grew up in San Mateo where he attended Aragon High School. He was predeceased by his parents Bethia and Robert and is survived by his siblings Rodney, Robert and Megan (Janis).
He met his future wife Lorna in 1970, their freshman year at UC Berkeley. He graduated from Cal in 1973 and went on to get his Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University in 1977. When he was 60 he went back to school at Cal State East Bay and was one class away from a Masters in History. Don was a civil trial attorney in San Francisco and Oakland from 1977 until he retired in 2019.
Don and Lorna got married in 1975 and were blessed with their daughter Katie in 1986. Don found so much happiness with his daughter and was so honored to walk her down the aisle at her wedding to Brian in 2022. His granddaughters Olivia and Zoey lit up his life. He had so much pride and excitement for their future.
History, conversation, the state of the world, and promoting education amongst the younger generations were all extremely important to Don. He was a very active member of the Livermore Heritage Guild and was on the Livermore Historic Preservation Commission.
He also loved to ski in his earlier years and enjoyed family trips to Switzerland, France and Tahoe. In more recent years he spent some great times with his family in Maui and Kauai and the west shore of Lake Tahoe.
His family would like to thank his home health care providers, Wendy and Justin, and also his team at UCSF and Kaiser Livermore and Dublin. He appreciated their knowledge and willingness to help him understand.
Don was one of a kind with an appreciation for life and knowledge. We will miss him.
Services have been held.