William L. Smith, former education commissioner; 79
WASHINGTON - William L. Smith, a veteran education official who was the last commissioner of the US Office of Education, died of complications of a cardiovascular ailment Feb. 29 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md. He was 79.
A native of Boston, Dr. Smith served as the 24th commissioner of education in 1979 as the new Cabinet-level Department of Education came into existence. He oversaw $10 billion in Office of Education programs during the transition and was the first career employee to hold the post and the only African-American.
During his 37-year career, Dr. Smith held top positions in areas that included special education, teacher development, civil rights, and intergovernmental and interagency affairs. He retired as an adviser for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education in 2006.
In the 1970s, he directed the Teacher Corps Program, which prepared thousands of talented liberal arts graduates to teach in understaffed schools. The program also provided professional development for veteran teachers.
He was especially proud of his eight years guiding this initiative, his wife said. "He was the passion behind that program," Audrey M. Smith said.
Dr. Smith was a 1949 graduate of Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where he played drums in the school's 21-piece jazz band. He served in the US Army in the Korean War, and his honors included the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.
After the war, he received a master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and began a teaching career in Boston and Cleveland. While working in Cleveland from 1963 to 1968, he was a basketball scout and assistant head coach and became principal of the city's largest junior high school.
In 1970, he received his doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and began his federal career.
Dr. Smith wrote numerous articles and presented papers at conferences on education, including at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's International Conference on Teacher Education in Geneva. He lectured at the International Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris and at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. In 1999, he was honored as a Living Legend in the National Alliance of Black School Educators Hall of Fame.
His marriage to Mabel Smith ended in divorce.
Dr. Smith leaves his wife of 20 years, Audrey M. Smith of Silver Spring, Md.;two children from his first marriage, Warren Smith of Gaithersburg, Md., and Denise Smith Withers of Washington; two stepchildren, Kraig Boone of Virginia Beach and Kay Boone of Suffolk, Va.; and five grandchildren. 