Sidney E. “Sid” Smith Jr., retired owner and president of SIU-contracted Erie Sand & Gravel, passed away April 22 at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Buffalo after a long illness. He was 77.“Through business practice and personal reputation, Sid was always known as a solid individual with deep concerns for the preservation of the maritime industry on the Great Lakes,” noted SIU Vice President Great Lakes Thomas Orzechowski.
Smith’s son, Sandy Smith, remembered his father as “a great friend of (SIU President) Mike Sacco, (retired SIU VP Great Lakes) Byron Kelley and the union. My father always felt that more involvement and understanding by management of the day-to-day life of sailors would produce a better ship for the sailor and the owner.”
As a teenager, Sid Smith worked part-time moving the storage grain ships outside Buffalo harbor during the winter, after the elevators’ inventories were depleted, Sandy noted. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, throughout the Pacific theater, and subsequently sailed aboard Great Lakes ships as a watchman, wheelsman and mate.
A native of Buffalo, Smith was a member of the Propeller Club in his home city. The chapter once recognized him as its man of the year. He also was appointed to the Great Lakes Commission and held a master’s license (unlimited tonnage) for merchant ships.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret “Peg” Smith, in 1993.
Memorials may be made to the Erie Humane Society, 418 W. 38th Street, Erie, PA 16508; St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1070 W. Dutch Road, Fairview, PA 16415; or the charity of the donor’s choice.
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