Annette J. Smith

December 8, 1924 - October 18, 2025 Dr. Annette Smith died in Pasadena, age 100. She leaves behind three sons, Christopher, Pierre and David, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Born in St. Eugene, Algeria, she received her master's and her Ph.D. in literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. Her first teaching post was at the University of Wales in Cardiff. Upon returning to Paris, she met and married David R. Smith in 1951. After a brief time in Casablanca, they relocated to the U.S. where she taught at Claremont Men's College before joining David on the faculty at Caltech. She retired in 1991 and focused her scholarship on English translations of French poetry, most notably her acclaimed renderings of Aime Cesaire's work with partners Clayton Eshleman and Dominic Thomas. She was also a judge for the L.A. Times book prize in fiction from 1992-1994. She will be missed for her intense curiosity about the world at large, and her insatiable appetite to live life to its fullest.