QUENTIN I. SMITH Jr.

SMITH--Quentin I., Jr., died peacefully on May 20, 2011 after a short illness. He was 83 years old and a resident of Kendal-on-Hudson in Sleepy Hollow, NY at the time of his death. Born in New York City, Quentin was the eldest son of Alice Lawson Smith and Quentin Irving Smith. He grew up in Edgemont, NY and graduated from Scarsdale High School, where he met his wife of sixty years, Beverly Pertsch. After a stint in the Army, Quentin graduated in 1950 from Yale University where, among other activities, he played on the varsity baseball team. He also graduated from the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Quentin began his business career at the Prudential Insurance Company. In 1957, he joined Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby Inc, later known as Towers Perrin and now part of Towers Watson, a leading international management consulting company. He rose through the ranks at TPF&C and, in 1971, at the age of 44, became the firm's President and Chief Executive Officer, a position he held until his retirement in 1987. During Quentin's tenure, TPF&C grew from a firm with annual revenues of $12 million and a few offices to a business with annual revenues of close to $500 million, thousands of employees and offices around the globe. He helped to engineer a series of strategic acquisitions that diversified the company's service offerings and transformed it into one of the largest, privately-held consulting firms in the world. Quentin's colleagues credited him with transitioning TPF&C from a loose coalition of individual practitioners into a focused, disciplined and integrated worldwide professional services firm, a leader in its field. Quentin was a tireless executive who valued greatly all the people he worked with regardless of position or title. During his career, Quentin also proudly served as a member of the Board of Directors of The Guardian Life Insurance Company, The J. Walter Thompson Company, Omnicom Group, UGI Corporation, and the Employee Benefit Research Institute. In retirement, Quentin lived in Sanibel Island and Boca Grande, FL, as well as East Orleans, MA. He was a fixture at his grandchildren's many sporting events, concerts, and plays. He also performed volunteer work for the United Nations. He continued his lifelong passion for baseball, always watching and rooting for the New York Yankees and personally playing softball well into his seventies in the Cape Cod Old Timers Softball League. He was an avid tennis player and occasional golfer. He was a long time member of the Eastward Ho Golf Club in Chatham, MA and Shenorock Shore Club in Rye, NY. Quentin was a wonderful man and leaves behind many adoring family members. In addition to his wife Beverly, Quentin is survived by two brothers, Peter L. Smith of Richland, Washington and Donald L. Smith of Rock Island, IL, his three children, Jeffrey Q. Smith of Purchase, NY, Lance A. Smith of Westport, CT, and Karen L. (Smith) Salinaro of Hastings on Hudson, NY, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and a host of extended family in Florida and elsewhere. When in the last several years his health deteriorated and his activities became much more limited, his spirit remained strong. Quentin always had a smile and wave for those he saw. He never stopped caring about his family, friends, and former colleagues. He will be greatly missed. Quentin was interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, NY following a private family ceremony. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held in New York City during June. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Quentin's name to support either research into the aging brain under the direction of Dr. Richard Mayeux, Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, or Yale University, Ray Tompkins Associates, P.O. Box 1844, New Haven, CT, 06520.