Peter Ogden Smyth, 81, of Charlottesville, Virginia cast off his mooring lines and sailed
into the sunrise early on the morning of March 28, 2026.
Pete was born July 21, 1944 to Newton St. Clair Smyth and Julia Rowell Smyth in
Greenwood, South Carolina. Growing up on the old Ashley Hall Plantation grounds
along the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina fostered his love of the
Lowcountry, its history, landscape, and marshes. He graduated from St. Andrew’s
Parish High School where he was student body president his senior year and a
standout athlete on the track and tennis teams. During high school Pete was
nominated to Palmetto Boys State as a delegate, and later spent many years on the
senior staff. He participated in Camp St. Christopher’s Leadership Training Conference
on Seabrook Island, and later returned as a counselor as well.
He attended Sewanee, The University of the South, for his undergraduate education
where he majored in Biology, was awarded the Order of Gownsmen, served as an
officer in the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He would go
on to pursue graduate degrees at The Citadel and the College of Charleston, and spent
several years as a Marine Biology researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Pete was a teacher, coach, administrator, and education advocate over a career
spanning six decades and impacted the lives of thousands of students and colleagues
at multiple locations in South Carolina including Wallace Middle School, C.E. Williams
Middle School, Middleton High School, Myrtle Beach High School, Porter-Gaud
School, Charleston County School of the Arts, and the Charleston Charter School for
Math and Science, which he helped to establish and served as the first principal.
Following his retirement there, the school named its gymnasium The Smyth Center in
his honor, or “The Pete” as it is affectionally known.
He also worked as the mathematics coordinator for Beaufort County and Horry County,
and served as adjunct faculty at multiple colleges. He worked for a time as an
education program specialist for the South Carolina Department of Education in
Columbia. Pete’s clear enthusiasm for science and mathematics, and for the process
of learning, combined with his ever-present sense of humor, allowed him to connect on
many levels with his pupils over the years.
Growing up near saltwater, he developed a lifelong love of the sea. He was an avid
sailor—from Lasers and Sunfish to a Tartan 30 on which he lived for several years in
Charleston and Beaufort. Pete was also a skilled tennis player, as well as a distance
runner who could often be seen dashing through downtown Charleston and The
Battery on a weekday evening, and then over at Gene’s Haufbrau or VooDoo Lounge
for a cold beverage afterward.
Pete was predeceased by his former spouse Vera Jean Goetz, and his sister, Ellen
Smyth Young. He is survived by two children, his daughter Rebecca Smyth Fridley
(Joshua) and his son Matthew Vincent Smyth (Kimberly), his grandchildren, to whom he
was “Peterdawg”, Grace, Blake, Sam, Vera, Wyatt, and Cooper, his brother Joseph
Baker Smyth (Cindy), and nieces and nephews Jaye, Alva, Julie, Lee, Robert, Ashley,
and Jordan.
The family would like to extend heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the staff and care
teams at UVA Health for taking care of Pete with extraordinary skill and compassion
during his time there.
A memorial and celebration of life will be held at a future time to be determined, in or
around the Charleston area and close to the seashore that he loved.
In lieu of flowers, Pete would probably tell you to start a 529 college savings account
for someone in your family, go out for a walk or a run and appreciate the beauty of
nature, strike up a conversation with a stranger at a local bar or restaurant, think about
becoming a kidney donor, get involved in your community, or go purchase the latest
new Apple device.
Arrangements are being handled by A Better Cremation in Charlottesville, VA