David Smillie

MARCH 12, 1925 - APRIL 6, 2006
David Smillie was born March 12, 1925 in New York City,the son of the late Ralph and Grace Cooley Smillie. He grew up in Essex Fells, New Jersey. After graduation from the Taft School in 1943, he served in the Army during World War II.
He graduated from Yale University in 1949, received his master'sat Wayne State University in 1951, and a doctorate from Cornell University in 1953 in developmental psychology. He taught at the Merrill-Palmer Institute where he met his wife to be, Anna Kirkman. In 1959, accompanied by his wife and two young children, he traveled to India on a Fulbright Scholarship to study personality development of children in a village near Delhi. Pursuing his interest in existential phenomenology he took a position at Duquesne University in 1961. He spent a year at Harvard University in 1962 studying the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.
In 1969 he assumed a position at New College in Sarasota, Florida. During his 23 year tenure at New College, Dr. Smillie was known for his commitment to his students and his insistence that they think deeply and critically about ideas. He often rode his bike to work, swam everyday throughout the year,and he was dependably one of the first and the last on the dance floor at faculty dances. He was, for over 70 years, a jazz enthusiast and particularly loved Dixieland Jazz and Sidney Bechet.
With his family, in 1972 he took a sabbatical year inGeneva, Switzerland, to study at the Jean Piaget Institute. After his retirement from New College, he was a visiting scholar at Duke University in the zoology department until 2003 where he pursued his interest in evolutionary biology.
David died on April 6, 2006 at Carol Woods in Chapel Hill, North Carolina from Multiple Systems Atrophy, a degenerative nerve disease that he has had for the past several years. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on April 15, 2006 at the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Church on Garrett Road in Durham. A reception will be held at Carol Woods from 1-3 p.m. on the same day.
Dr. Smillie is survived by his wife, Anna Kirkman Smillie of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; son, John Smillie and wife, Karen Vogtmann of Ithaca, NY; daughters, Katie Smillie and husband, Daniel Hungerford of Atlanta, GA, Jane Smillie and husband, Thomas Hirschi of Cambridge, MA, Rebekah Smillie and husband, Jonathan Axon of Newton, MA; brother, James Smillie of Verona, NJ; sister-in-law, Nancy Smillie of West Orange, NJ; eight grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to either the Carter Center Peace Programs; One Copenhill, 435 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30307 orthe National Resource Defense Counsel; 40 W 20th St, NY, NY 10011.
Arrangements by the Cremation Society of the Carolinas, Raleigh.