Donald E. Smith, G’53 Gr’56, emeritus professor of political science at University of Pennsylvania, died on July 6 at the age of 89.

Dr. Smith, who grew up in Berlin, New Jersey, earned a dual bachelor’s degree in arts and theology from Eastern Baptist College and Theological Seminary in 1951 (now Eastern University). While studying at there, he was ordained and preached in Spanish at a small parish in Harlem. 

He completed a master’s degree in political science in 1953, followed by a doctorate in political science in 1956, both at Penn.

Dr. Smith taught at University of Rhode Island for eight years. In 1955, he joined the Penn faculty as an instructor of political science. He became an associate professor in 1964 and then professor in 1973.

He was chair of the committee on academic freedom and responsibility at Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences. He joined the 25-Year Club in 1989 (Almanac October 31, 1989).

Dr. Smith received two Fulbright fellowships for research in India and a grant from the Social Science Research Council for research in Latin America (Almanac May 1968). He was the author of Nehru and Democracy, published in 1958, India as a Secular State in 1963 and Religion and Political Development in 1970. He was the editor and a contributor to South Asian Politics and Religion in 1966 and co-editor and contributor to Anti-Americanism in the Third World in 1985. He was honored by the Association of Indians in America in 1994.

He retired and became emeritus in 1999.

He married Violet Ramanjulu of Nellore, India, in 1975. She died in 1993. He married Deborah Anthony Stuart in 2000. 

He is survived by his wife, Deborah, a sister and extended family.