American leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was the eleventh general superintendent of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association of the LDS Church, serving from 1962 to 1969.
Smith was born to George Carlos and Lillian Emery Smith. He became the president of the Big Cottonwood Utah Stake of the LDS Church in 1949. In 1956 he became the president of the Holladay Utah Stake. In 1958, Smith became the first assistant to Joseph T. Bentley, the general superintendent of the YMMIA. He was released in June 1961, but in October 1962 Smith was asked to succeed Bentley and become the superintendent of the YMMIA. During his tenure, Smith had three different assistants: Carl W. Buehner, George R. Hill, and future LDS Church apostle Marvin J. Ashton. In 1969 Smith was released; his successor was W. Jay Eldredge.
In 1969 Smith became the first president of the Southeast Asia Mission of the Church, which was headquartered in Singapore and had jurisdiction over Indonesia, India, and most of the countries in Southeast Asia. This included supervising church members in South Vietnam. Some of the LDS servicemen who were in Vietnam were called to serve as part-time missionaries. Both other American servicemen and native Vietnamese were baptized as a result of these efforts. Smith had previously presided over the Central States Mission of the church.
Smith married P. Lavon Petersen and was the father of five children. He was the grandson of LDS church president Joseph F. Smith. He died in Salt Lake City on 29 March 1987 at age 76.
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