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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
COMMEMORATING THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF RONALD C. SMITH
WHEREAS, Ronald C. Smith, Professor Emeritus at The John Marshall Law School, U.S. Navy veteran, public servant, criminal and constitutional law scholar, and a leader in his profession, died at the age of 84 leaving behind family, countless friends, and a community enriched for having known him; and
WHEREAS, Ronald C. Smith was born in Chicago on December 9, 1933. He graduated from Fenwick High School in Oak Park in 1951 and received a B.S. in the Humanities from Loyola University in Chicago in 1955; and
WHEREAS, Ronald C. Smith served his country from 1956-1962 as a naval helicopter pilot and personnel officer. He left active duty to enter law school but remained a naval reservist until retiring as a Lt. Commander in 1977. While in the Navy, Ron, a "seadog" with bright red hair, acquired the nickname "Red Dog," a name that followed him for the rest of his life; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from Loyola Law School in 1965, Ronald C. Smith clerked for Justice John V. McCormick of the Illinois Appellate Court. During that year, Ron was hired as an adjunct professor in the legal writing program at John Marshall Law School, beginning his career-long association with the school.
WHEREAS, Ronald C. Smith served as a legal counsel for the Santa Fe Railroad from 1966-1968, specializing in governmental regulation and administrative procedure. He joined John Marshall full-time in 1968, where he specialized in constitutional law and criminal law until he retired in 2014; and
WHEREAS, Ronald C. Smith will be remembered for his commitment to independence and ethics in politics. In 1969, Ron ran for a seat as a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention against a candidate backed by the regular Cook County Democratic Party. He won that seat and was aligned with an "independent bloc" of about ten delegates, which included his fellow law professor, Dawn Clark ...
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