Shelter Island Reporter obituary: Robert W. Smith

Robert (Bob) Smith, 88, of Palm City, Fla, died on Sept. 12, 2025. 

A Celebration of Life will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palm City on Oct. 11, 2025, at 11 a.m. Burial will be at a later date on Shelter Island.  

Bob was born in Greenport on July 22, 1937, to Albert and Helen Dickerson Smith.  He graduated from Shelter Island High School in 1955, and SUNY at Morrisville in 1958. Bob served in the U.S. Army Reserves for seven years. He worked for a large insurance broker before starting his own insurance company on Long Island. He married June Martin in 1961 and had a daughter, Lynn Kay.  

Bob married Marjorie Meyer in 1970 and had two children, Christopher and Amy, in Northport, N.Y. He moved to a farm near Tilden, Neb., in 1979, and raised corn, soybeans, and hogs. He retired in 2003, and moved full-time to Florida in 2009, where he enjoyed golfing, boating, and hosting annual Shelter Island reunions.

Bob is survived by his wife, Marjorie, of Palm City; children Lynn Kay (Bix) Winters of Shelter Island, Christopher Smith of Bothell, Wash., and Amy Smith (Cory Strong) of Stuart, Fla; two step-granddaughters, Leah and Alyse Winters; sisters Dorothy Ogar of Shelter Island, and Margaret Falanga of Middletown, N.Y.; sisters- and brothers-in-law Myra Smith, Kathleen (Tom) Skinner, Ardi Garnett, and Janelle (Patrick) McPartland; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Burt; a son in infancy; brothers-in-law Fred Ogar, Michael Falanga, Marco Duarte, and Jack Garnett; and nephews Larry Smith and Joe Falanga.