James Smith

1962 - 2015

James "Jim" Cary Smith

July 24, 1962 -- June 24, 2015

James "Jim" Cary Smith, III passed away of ALS on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at Vintage Coventry Assisted Living Facility in San Francisco with his mother and sister by his side. He was preceded in death by his father, Jimmy Smith. He is survived by his mother, Janice Smith and a sister, Jana (Smith) Koen, her husband Don Koen, and two nephews, Cameron and Carson Koen, all of Hardin, and his lifelong best friend, Bart Rawlinson of Forestville, California.
A Memorial service will be held Saturday, August 1st at 12:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, 1187 Franklin Street in San Francisco, with a reception following. All of his friends and colleagues are invited to attend.
Funeral services were held in his hometown of Hardin, Texas on July 19th and a memorial dinner will be held in Austin, Texas at a later date.
Jim Smith was born July 24,1962 in Hardin, Texas. After graduating from Hardin High School in 1980, Jim earned his Bachelor of Science, History at University of Texas, Austin, and a Masters in Rhetoric in 1987 from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT, Austin. Later in life he earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California.
From an early age Jim was a committed environmentalist and devoted his work life to improving the quality of the air. He worked at a variety of agencies including the anti-tobacco initiatives at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Community Focus in San Francisco and the Bay Area Air Quality Control District, where he retired after his diagnosis with ALS. He will be missed by a large and loving group of friends and colleagues.