William “Bill” Smith loved teaching almost as much as he loved building and flying model airplanes. Born in Oregon in 1942, he grew up in Alaska and returned there eventually after earning an A.M. from Harvard. His many teaching posts took him all across the country, from Anchorage to Maine to Pennsylvania. He finally circled back to his native state in 1981 to earn a Ph.D. at the Univ. of Oregon. Concurrently, he taught until retirement at Portland Community College. The Oregonian reports that he died from cancer on May 11, 2006.