Edwin O. Smith

Biography

Smith was born in 1871 in Albany, New York. He attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1893. He played professional baseball on teams in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Adirondacks region of New York and he was a baseball and football coach at Depauw University. From April through September 1908 he held the school's interim presidency. He was seeking re-election to a fifteenth term when he died from a heart attack on October 28, 1960. He also was a member of the Connecticut State Board of Education between 1935 and 1939. As a state legislator, he played a significant role in the enactment of legislation related to education and served as chairman of the Legislative Committee on Education that in 1954 established a formula for state government financial support of public schools.

At the time of his death at the age of 89, Smith was the oldest and longest-serving member of the Connecticut General Assembly. Originally part of the University of Connecticut campus, owned by the state, and operated by the university, it has been operated as a regional public school since 1987. In 1993 the town of Willington was added to the region served by the school.