Obituary of Edward William Smith

Edward William Smith passed away on May 15, 2024, after struggling with a long illness. Ed was born on April 23, 1946, in Columbus, Ohio, where he grew up and discovered his love for the outdoors and made lifelong friends. He graduated from St. Francis DeSales High School with his high school sweetheart, Pamela, who he married a few years after graduation. Ed and Pam moved from Ohio so that he could study electrical engineering at the University of New Hampshire. While in NH, their daughter, Jacqueline, was born. After graduating from UNH, Ed worked as an engineer at Ohio Bell in Columbus before moving with his family in 1974 to Tampa to work for Tampa Electric Company. While at TECO, Ed began to dream about being his own boss, and in 1980, he started Smith Engineering, Inc. in Charlotte County. He and Pam ran the successful electrical engineering firm for nearly four decades, taking jobs all over the country and the Caribbean. While Ed worked incredibly hard, he also loved to spend his time off outdoors, particularly on the water. He had his first boat as a child at Seneca Lake, Ohio, where his family had a cabin. As an adult he always had a boat and sometimes two: a sailboat and powerboat. He loved getting away from it all miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, hearing the waves lap against the hull. Bad weather wouldn’t deter him, and he loved quoting one of his favorite movies, Mosquito Coast: “an ordeal is a good deal”. Throughout the years, Ed and his family spent many days on Little Gasparilla and later Palm Island. Ed and Pam lived for almost twenty years as full-time residents of Palm Island. Despite a deep aversion to sitting in traffic, Ed never complained about waiting for the ferry to take him over to PI, where he walked the beach with their beloved Golden Retriever or went out in the boat for a quick ride to Don Pedro State Park. Ed enjoyed nothing more than being on the water or out in nature and will be remembered as a kind, funny, and gentle man who greatly valued his family and friends. He is predeceased by his parents, William “Bill” and Mary Smith. He is survived by his wife, Pam; his daughter, Jackie Smith; his granddaughter, Kyra Lance; his brother, Ken (Connie) Smith; his sisters, Theresa (Tony) Honeycutt and Kathy Podolak; and many nieces and nephews. He will be missed.

A graveside service will be held at Venice Memorial Gardens on Saturday, May 25, 2024 at 11:30 am.

A special thanks to the wonderful nurses and staff at Heritage Oaks of Englewood Memory Care. In lieu of flowers, tribute gifts can be made in memory of Ed to the Tidewell Hospice Foundation: https://tidewellfoundation.org/donate/