Dr. Harry Charles Smith Longtime Los Gatos physician and surgeon, passed away suddenly on December 17. He was 74. He will be lovingly remembered and missed every day by so many of us. Dr. Smith was born on October 22, 1934, in Webster, Massachusetts. He grew up working in the family business—Gatzke Plumbing and Hardware—and spent his summers at the local lake—Lake Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchabunagungamaug. He attended high school at Concordia Preparatory School for Boys in New York, a private Lutheran School, where he was captain of the football team and coached the varsity wrestling team. He received an athletic scholarship to Columbia University in Manhatten, where he played football for the Columbia Lions. He went on to earn his Medical Degree at New York Medical College in New York City, interning at Flower and Fifth Hospitals and graduating in 1961. In 1958, he married Gloria Irene Pitts, a nursing student from Saint Luke’s School of Nursing, and celebrated the birth of his son, Douglas Charles, in 1959. In 1961, he began his military service as a Captain in the United States Air Force, serving first at Fitzsimons Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where his daughter Debra Lee was born in 1962. He was then a Flight Surgeon in the 829th Medical Group at Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake, Washington. He was honorably discharged from active service in 1964, remaining in the Air Force Reserves until 1967. From 1964 through 1968, he successfully completed his residency in Ear, Nose and Throat Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Hospitals in Pennsylvania. He daughter Lisa Marie was born there in 1964. During his surgical training, he traveled to and fell in love with Northern Califronia In 1968, he moved his family of five and one dog, Wags, to the orchard-filled town of San Jose. He set up a private practice in Otolaryngology in San Jose and was primarily affiliated with Los Gatos Community and Good Samaritan Hospitals. In 1978, he moved his clinic practice to Dardinelli Lane in Los Gatos. He treated hundreds of members of the community with tremendous compassion, integrity, and skill over his 35 years of medical practice. He was a humanitarian, and performed charity surgical missions in developing countries. Although he retired from private practice in 2001, he remained active in part-time clinical work, and, as always, he volunteered his services throughout the community. In 1989, he celebrated his marriage to Peggy Ray Todd, R.N., of Santa Cruz. Dr. Harry Smith was a devoted father and husband, an avid tennis player, skier,and scuba diver, and the best friend many of us ever had. His love of his family was equaled by his love of Northern California’s beauty and of his ill-behaved but cherished dogs. He is survived by his wife, Peggy; his former wife, Gloria Croll; his children Doug, Vanessa, and Lisa; his beloved grandchildren Max Bennett Pienkny, Spencer Charles Dore, and Douglas Armand Smith; his daughter-in-law Veronice Smith; his stepchildren Tracy, Lisa, and Katie; his step-granchildren, Baylee, Brittany, Sarah, Owen, and Emma; and his dogs Minnie and Marley. He is also survived by his beloved sister, Elizabeth Keegan, of Webster, Massachusetts, as well as many other friends and family members. A memorial service will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Chruch, 14103 Saratoga Ave., Saratoga, on Saturday, December 27, at 11 a.m., followed by a Celebration of Life Ceremony at Campbell Community Center, at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family request donations to the Animal Rescue Foundation, the American Heart Association, or a charity of your choice.
