Honorable Donald L. Smith

LUMBERTON — The Honorable Donald Lee Smith, 75, a retired North Carolina Court of Appeals and Superior Court Judge, died Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015.

Known for his love, respect, and memory for the law, "Donnie" was a native of Sampson County, grew up in Lumberton, and was a graduate of the Lumberton High School class of 1957. Prior to his death, he resided in Raleigh. He was the son of the late Currie Lee Smith and Hattie Blanche Strickland Shipp (deceased Dec. 25, 2014).

A 1964 graduate of the Wake Forest School of Law, he served as City Attorney for Raleigh (1968-1970), Town Attorney for Cary (1970-1973), and was North Carolina's first Republican Superior Court Judge of the 20th Century, serving from 1973-1987. Appointed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 1988 by Governor James Martin, he later went on to serve as an emergency recall judge for the North Carolina Court of Appeals and an emergency Special Superior Court judge.

Judge Smith was Of Counsel with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice from 1989-1994 where he played a key role in the success of several landmark cases, including the North Carolina Supreme Court's decision in Bailey, et. al. v. The State of North Carolina, which resulted in the refund of illegally collected taxes from over 185,000 North Carolina retirees. In 2002, others involved in the case established the Judge Donald L. Smith Professorship for Studies in Constitutional and Public Law in his honor at his alma mater, Wake Forest School of Law.

Judge Smith was a member of the NC State Bar, the NC Bar Association, the NC Judicial Conference, the NC Conference of Superior Court Judges, the Bar of the US District Court for the Eastern District of NC, the US Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Bar and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served on the Governor's Law and Order Committee from 1973-1976 and the Governor's Standards, Policies and Goals Commission from 1986-1988.

He is survived by a sister, Myra Smith Goodwin, of Clinton and Asheville; a brother, Gerald (Jerry) Lumis Smith of Fayetteville; two nephews, Keith Smith of Mocksville and Joel Smith of Winston Salem and a niece, Leigh Glass of Asheville.

Visitation will be 1-3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 11, at Floyd Mortuary and Crematory, Inc., 809 East 5th St., Lumberton, followed by a memorial service at 3 p.m. at Floyd Memorial Chapel. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: The Honorable Donald L. Smith/Manila G. Shaver Law Scholarship Fund c/o Wake Forest University School of Law, Attn: Shawna Potts, P.O. Box 7227, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.

On-line condolences may be made by visiting: www.floydmortuary.net .