Gregory Hedges Smelzer

Gregory Hedges Smelzer 1975 ~ 2017 Gregory Hedges Smelzer, age 42 years, of Burlingame, California, passed away unexpectedly in the early morning of December 23, 2017 of a heart arrythmia, and his family and friends are heartbroken with this tragic event. Greg was born in Ogden, Utah on September 15, 1975 to Quentin R. Smelzer, Jr. and Margot Hedges Smelzer. He grew up in the small town of Huntsville in the beautiful Ogden Valley surrounded by mountains where he learned to ski and mountain bike. He graduated from Weber High School in 1993. He then attended the University of Utah and earned a BS in mechanical engineering. From a young age, he enjoyed launching rockets and with a degree in hand proceeded to work on rocket boosters for satellites at Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado. After a few years experience, Greg decided to pursue a new skill set and earned his MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was fortunate to complete a summer internship at Apple during this period. Impressed with his work, Apple hired Greg, and he started his Silicon Valley tech career. Greg was always curious and loved gadgets, games, and devices. He found roles at Apple in product marketing to be challenging and fulfilling but also took time to enjoy surfing, kiteboarding, and of course, more skiing and cycling. After 6 years at Apple, Greg wanted a more entrepreneurial experience and moved to the startup world. He worked for a number of startups, and most recently has been with Noon Home Inc. as Head of Product where he helped launch their Smart Home Lighting System. For the past 7 years, Greg has been a loving husband to Charlotte Payton, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. They married on July 10, 2010, in Northern California. Greg has been an extremely devoted father to his 3-year-old son, Elliott and 10-month-old daughter, Amelia. Greg was extremely model handsome, but more importantly, kind, generous, and patient to all people and animals. He cared deeply about many causes and spent time as a Project Bay Cat volunteer feeder for feral cats. He would then go home to his own beloved orange tabby cat, Bruce. In addition to his wife and children, Greg is survived by his mother Margot; his siblings Quentin, Elizabeth, Mark, John, and Caroline and their partners; and by his nieces and nephews Geoffrey, Zachary, Brian, Brooke, Luke, Sadie, Grayson, Nolen, Garrett and Violet. Greg is preceded in death by his father, Quentin and his nephews Adam and Christian. A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church at 12 C Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, at noon on December 30. According to Greg's wishes, his remains will be cremated and half of his ashes will be scattered in the ocean at a later celebration of his life at the beach in Santa Cruz where he loved to surf and enjoy the ocean. The other half will be scattered this summer in the mountains at Alta, Utah, where Greg loved to ski. In lieu of flowers, contributions to his children's' college funds may be made online at https://www.gofundme.com/eli-amelia-smelzers-college-funds or separate checks may be made out in each of the children's names, Elliott and Amelia Smelzer, and mailed to Charlotte Payton at their home address. If you need the address, please email John Solomon at jsolomonza@gmail.com.