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Keith V. Smith

IN MEMORIAM

Keith V. Smith

Professor of Finance

UC Los Angeles

1937 – 2011

 

Former professor Keith V. Smith died in West Lafayette, Indiana, on October 2, 2011, at the age of 74. Professor Smith was a member of the UCLA Anderson faculty from 1966 to 1979 before leaving in that year to become dean of the Krannert School at Purdue University. Although he taught many finance courses at UCLA Anderson, his specialties were portfolio management and corporate finance. He was assistant dean of the Anderson doctoral program from 1971 through 1974.

 

Professor Smith grew up in Byran, Ohio, where he was valedictorian and president of his high school senior class. He then earned a BS in engineering physics (1960) and an MBA (1961) from The Ohio State University, after which he worked as an operations research analyst for the Space and Information Systems Division of North American Aviation. Following further graduate work in economics at the University of Southern California he completing his Ph.D. in finance at Purdue University in 1966.

 

During his UCLA years Professor Smith advanced from assistant to full professor (1973). He also taught for UCLA Extension and the Pacific Coast Banking School. For many years he joined other UCLA professors in giving a lecture series throughout the western United States, Canada, and Mexico, under the auspices of AMR International, on accounting and finance for non-financial executives.

 

Professor Smith was dean at Krannert from 1979 to 1983, where he was instrumental in raising $5.5 million to develop, furnish, and equip Purdue’s Krannert Center for Executive Education and Research, which included a residential facility for executive program attendees. After his deanship, he returned to professorial status, where in addition to the topics he taught at UCLA he taught accounting, economics, statistics, and security analysis. At Purdue he also helped create the Student Managed Investment Fund.

 

Professor Smith was author or co-author of eight books, including Basic Investment Principles for Today and Tomorrow (Purdue University Press, 2005) and Essentials of Investment (Richard D. Irwin, 1974). He served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Financial Research, and the Journal of Financial Planning. He was also active as a corporate director and consultant to numerous companies and financial institutions.

 

Professor Smith is survived by his wife, Jane; two daughters, Jamie Ferency and Julie Harney; one step daughter, and three grandchildren.

 

David K. Eiteman