Frederick C.B. Smyth, Sr

Jamestown, RI - Frederick C.B. Smyth, Sr., 76, of 17 Friendship Street, Jamestown, RI, died Sunday, June 29, 2008 at home with his family. He was the husband of the late Ellen Norma Whaley Smyth. Born in Newport, RI on June 24, 1932, he was the son of the late William R. and Elizabeth Brewster Smyth, whose father a Philadelphia lawyer, was responsible for retaining the words In God We Trust on U. S. currency when President Theodore Roosevelt had issued an executive order in 1907 to eliminate them.. Mr. Smyth was a 1951 graduate of Rogers High School and a 1967 graduate of the University of Rhode Island. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1971 from Suffolk University Law School. Mr. Smyth joined the Jamestown Police Department in 1953, becoming Chief in 1956 until his retirement in 1974. He started his private practice in 1974 until 1979 when he became the Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Rhode Island until 1985, when he went back into private practice until 1986, when he became Hearing Officer for the Department of Workers Compensation and Department of Labor Training until 1997 when he became Chief Hearing Officer for the Department of Labor and Training Board of Review until his death. In October of 1966 he was appointed by Governor John Chafee to the First Special Commission to Study the General Upgrading of Police Services in Rhode Island. In June 1969 he was appointed by Governor Frank Licht to the first Police Officers Commission on Standards and Training established under the General Laws of Rhode Island, and in June of 1971 appointed by Governor Licht as Chairman of this commission. This commission had the responsibility of establishing the first mandatory police training academy for all new municipal law enforcement officers throughout the state, excluding the City of Providence. In the Jamestown Press in the section of This Week in Island History for the Week of June 19 50 years ago, June 17, 1958, Frederick C. B. Smyth was appointed Jamestowns first permanent chief of police last night after an ordinance patterned on a similar one in North Kingstown was adopted by the Council. Mr. Smyth was a former chairman of the Rhode Island State Commission on Standards and training of Police Officers, a past member of The Rhode Island State Commission to Study Upgrading of Police Services, past president of U.R. I. Criminalistics Association, former director of Civil Defense in Jamestown, a life member of the RI Police Chiefs Association, former vestry member of St. Matthew Church, past president and team coach of the Jamestown Little League, former chairman, board member and also on the Board of Directors of the Jamestown Boys Club. He is survived by his son Frederick C. B. Smyth, Jr. of Jamestown, RI, his daughters, Barbara A. Whitaker and her husband Mel of Jamestown, RI and Susan J. Smyth of Newport, RI, his brother William R. Smyth, Jr. of Del Ray Beach, FL, his grandchildren, Melanie Whitaker of Jamestown, RI, Kristin Gouveia and her husband Alan of Jamestown, RI, Megan Jones and her husband Jeremy of Wakefield and Sarah Smyth of Jamestown, RI, his great grandchildren Kelsey Gouveia, Rileigh Gouveia and Aidan Jones and many nieces and nephews. His funeral will be private. Donations in his memory may be made to the Robert Potter League for Animals, PO Box 412, Newport, RI 02840 or to St. Matthews Church, 87 Narragansett Avenue, Jamestown, RI 02835.