Ezekiel L. Smith Obituary

Have you ever met someone who immediately made you feel “at home?” This was “Zeke” Smith. Warm, kind, caring and a great listener. Loved by many from the day he was born to Edith Harper Smith and Ezekiel L. Smith Sr. He was the first son of four boys and two girls. A third sister from a prior marriage was the oldest child in the family. Ezekiel‘s life began in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He moved with his family to Springfield, Ohio when he was three. He was adored by everyone in the family, especially his maternal grandmother as the children grew and she left Springfield with them for Toledo, Ohio.

“Buddy” to his mother and “Doc” to his siblings, he excelled at everything in grade school where he first exhibited his natural skills as an artist. While in grade school, he entered a Ford Motor Company contest. He won for his original drawing of the Woody Station Wagon. He graduated second in his High School class and left a beautiful mural on a wall at Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio.

Ezekiel began his studies in Engineering and Math at the University of Toledo and then joined the United States Army at Paratrooper training School. He completed two years in the Army as a Paratrooper Ranger with the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He left Fort Bragg as a Sargent First Class and completed his courses at the University of Toledo graduating with degrees in Engineering and Mathematics. While on summer breaks from the University, Ezekiel worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. He invented and perfected several devices still used by the U.S. Airforce today.

In 1962, during a summer trip to Moffett Field in California, Ezekiel was offered a position with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). After returning to Ohio, he married Margo Richmond, and the two of them drove to California on their honeymoon—a journey he later described as both wonderful and long, especially after his bride accidentally flushed the car keys down the toilet while they were crossing a desert in a remote state. They settled into a wonderful and fulfilling life together in Palo Alto as Margo completed her undergraduate degree and Zeke designed and built the first and only working Water Vapor Electrolysis Cell. This cell was later placed aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft in 1969. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon during that mission.

In 1969, Ezekiel applied and was admitted to Stanford University’s Business School Class of 1972. While in graduate school, he met young men who had an impact on his life. Notably, Robert Johnson, Fred Hayden and Harold Cranston. He retired from NASA and was briefly employed with Stanford University before joining Robert Johnson to form a new Forensic Economics Consulting business in1987. Zeke retired from RWJA & Assoc. in 2024.

As noted above, Ezekiel was a gifted artist in paint and pen & ink. When Margo was trying her biggest Federal case in San Francisco’s Federal Court, Zeke asked his barber, Jym, to buy a wig to disguise his white hair. The disguise allowed him to enter the courtroom unrecognized and draw the faces of all the defendants. He used the drawings to protect his wife and home.

We almost left out the second real joy of Zeke’s life - tennis. He played tennis for over fifty years and only stopped because of partial paralysis in his right arm. Over the years, it was not uncommon for Zeke to be called to Stanford Taube Tennis Stadium to warm up the “professionals” before their games. He was a very humble man about his many and varied talents and skills, but not about tennis. Gyimah Kasali, his tennis partner and friend, said Zeke would quietly let you see his face as he celebrated his win. The grin lit his face like a spotlight...

Ezekiel is survived by his loving wife of sixty-three years, Margo Dianne Smith; his sister, Mary Elizabeth Simmons; brothers Otis (Micki) and David (Fran); and numerous loving nephews, nieces and dear friends; and his second family at RWJA and Associates.