Clifford Charles Smith

Clifford Charles Smith, PhD, 69, died peacefully on Thursday evening, October 31, 2013, at Hock Family Pavilion within the services of Duke Home Care & Hospice in Durham, NC, following a long battle with prostate cancer. Cliff was born in Cuyahoga County, OH to the late Charles J. and Lois Hopkinson Smith on October 14, 1944. Cliff was a three-time Purdue Uneersity graduate, with a B.S. 1966, M.S. 1968, and Ph.D. 1974 all in electrical engineering. At Purdue, Cliff was a member of Phi Kappa Psi where he built friendships that endured throughout his life. Cliff taught graduate school courses in engineering technology at Purdue Uneersity North Central, Portage, IN. Cliff's professional life took place in the steel industry at what is now Arcelor Mittal formerly Inland Steel in East Chicago, IN, where he retired as a Research Scientist. Ineetirement, Cliff pursued avocations reflecting his love of numbers, statistics and probability, including professional poker and building a probability teaching device, patterned after the Mathematica model that had been installed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL. Cliff is survived by his loving wife of 46 years, Sarah A. Smith lately of Durham, NC, previously of Beverly Shores, IN; his daughter, Sarah Christine Smith of Raleigh, NC; his son, Adam Clifford Smith and wife, Carla, of Indianapolis, IN; his sister, Barbara Margraff and husband, Frank, of Avon Lake, OH; and his nephew, Ted Margraff, also of Avon Lake, OH. A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, neember 9th from the Chapel of the Hall-Wynne Funeral Service, 1113 W. Main St. in Durham, NC. A reception to celebrate Cliff's life will follow at 4:30 p.m. at Tobacco Road Sports Caf. Additional details posted at www.hallwynne.com. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Duke Home Care & Hospice, http://dhch.duhs.duke.edu/make-donation, or the Prostate Cancer Foundation, www.pcf.org. On-line memorials: www.hallwynne.com. Select obituaries.