Robert Joseph “Bob” Smith 78, of Sea Girt, NJ passed away on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at home with Corinne, his wife of 52 years, by his side.  He is also survived by his sister Rosemary Tiernan and her husband John, and by his nieces, Cathleen Tiernan Morgan and husband Jon and children Callie and Jed, and Amy Tiernan Kane and husband Jim and children Chad, Katie and Jack Holsworth.  Bob was predeceased by his dear parents, Joseph and Marie Smith, as well as by his many beloved four-legged companions.

Bob grew up in the Elmora section of Elizabeth where he and his lifelong friends self-designated as the “Elmorons.”  This was the beginning of a lifetime of humor and mischievousness that would keep everyone who knew him laughing.  Bob developed and maintained deep friendships in each part of his life, first in his childhood neighborhoods, then at St. Gen’s parochial school and Marist High School, and later at Montclair State.  For several years in the 1960s, he served in the US Army in Korea and California.  This kindled an insatiable quest for knowledge on military and aviation history.  (Bob was known in his Company to have the highest IQ of any soldier who successfully rose to the rank of private.)  Following his service, he had roles at AIG, Sloan-Kettering and Munich Reinsurance, making more lifelong friends in each of those firms.

Bob was a man of passions.  He dearly loved his family and his friends.  But he also cultivated the traits of loyalty and extreme patience by adopting the Mets after the Brooklyn Dodgers headed west.  He was a licensed private pilot and proud owner of 25% of a Piper Cherokee 180 (i.e., one wing).  If that wasn’t impractical enough, he also loved sailing and owned two sailboats that were destroyed in two separate hurricanes.  Bob was a lover of music.  A self-taught guitarist, his enthusiasm led him to become a part-time music instructor earning a little money for college.  A dabbler on the banjo and mandolin, he was joined by several of his friends playing bluegrass gigs, earning no money for college.  Later, he delighted playing alongside his very musically talented nieces and nephews on the guitar and piano.  Bob was a voracious reader of non-fiction, who fed his habit by volunteering at the Wall Township library.  He also volunteered with Meals on Wheels, positioning his deliveries so that he could spend time chatting with various recipients, who became his friends.  It’s no coincidence that Bob’s volunteer activities centered on talking, books and food.

More recently, Bob spent hours walking the Sea Girt boardwalk and sitting in his beach chair enjoying a book and the ocean.  Using his smarts and ingenuity, he largely managed to escape the nearly constant pressure applied by his spouse, sister, nieces and friends to play board and card games.  Uncle Tootie, as he was known to the family, took his passions seriously, but never too seriously.

The family would like to extend its enormous thanks to Joseph Asante for his care and help over the past year.

Bob and his smile and the twinkle in his eye will be dearly missed.  If you’re able to, please join the family at a mass to celebrate Bob’s life, at 9:30am, May 17th, St Mark’s Church, Sea Girt, NJ. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Doctors Without Borders (https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/).  Thank you.