Bethesda, Maryland / James Enlo Smith, 89, passed away on September 23, 2020, just a few days shy of his 90th birthday. He was at home, surrounded by his family. Jim was born on September 29, 1930, in Aberdeen, SD, to parents Catherine and St. Clair Smith. When St. Clair was appointed to the South Dakota Supreme Court in 1937 (serving until 1961), the family moved to Pierre, where Jim grew up, along with his adored older sister Mary (Mrs. James Oag of Vermillion). After graduating from Pierre High School in 1948, Jim majored in chemistry at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where he also played quarterback for the Hardrockers, leading the team to an undefeated season and a state championship in 1951. In 1952, Jim moved to Washington, D.C., to enroll in the same law school his father had attended, at George Washington University. He took law school classes at night while working full time, beginning his long and storied career in Washington, first as the Senate elevator operator at the U.S. Capitol. Jim was always a good talker – gregarious, curious and funny – and his work ethic and smarts were soon noted. He became a legislative assistant to South Dakota Senator Karl Mundt, and then Minority Counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations. From 1962-1968, he continued to shape public policy, but in the private sector, as Deputy Legislative Counsel for the American Bankers Association. He loved his work, but he also enjoyed city life. He regularly frequented jazz clubs in Georgetown where he heard all the greats, including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, and once screwed up his courage and danced with country singer Patsy Cline in a bar in Virginia – a memory he cherished. In 1969, Jim was called back to the government, and joined the U.S. Treasury Department, first as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury in charge of Legislative Affairs, winning the Department’s highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award in 1971, for the enactment of landmark legislation. Next, Jim was nominated and confirmed as Deputy Undersecretary of the Treasury for Congressional and Legislative Affairs, serving Secretaries John Connally and George Schultz. Then, in 1973, Jim was confirmed as President Nixon’s appointee to become the 23rd U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, an office first established by President Lincoln in 1863. The Comptroller regulates all National banks, and Jim served at a particularly pivotal time, when banking was rapidly expanding after 20 years of post-war stability. Jim modernized banking practices, and commissioned the Haskins & Sells study, which changed bank regulation and led to the hiring of many more women and minorities as bank examiners. After serving as Comptroller, Jim remained in the private sector, becoming an Executive Vice President of the First National Bank of Chicago, and then returning to Washington in 1980, as President of Charls Walker Associates, a government affairs firm with expertise in tax policy and banking regulation. In 1995, he co-founded his own firm with partner Jim Free, and continued to serve as Chairman of the Smith-Free Group until 2015, representing major companies in banking, insurance, finance, entertainment, health care, and energy. Although Jim’s adult career was in Washington, he remained a loyal South Dakotan. He continued to work with the School of Mines to raise money for scholarships, and was given an honorary doctorate in Business Science in 1995. When he retired, South Dakota Governor Daugaard declared Dec. 16, 2015 “James E. Smith Day” to honor his 63 years of work on public policy. And his last trip to Rapid City, in 2017, was to be inducted along with championship athletes from other years into the School of Mines’ Hall of Fame, an event made even more meaningful because his son Jim delivered the introductory speech. In 1978, after two previous marriages which resulted in son Jim, and daughters Susan and Mary-Margaret, Jim married Karen Klem of Greenbelt, Md., becoming a devoted stepfather to her son Kevin, and an enthusiastic member of her large, extended family. Jim and Karen were happily married for forty-two years. They were devoted to family and friends, packing the house every Christmas Eve for decades for a much anticipated party that always culminated in Jim’s dramatic reading of The Night Before Christmas to wide-eyed grandchildren and cousins. They also loved travelling out West to our National Parks, and once the Nationals came to Washington, became avid baseball fans. After Jim’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s at age 83, Karen helped him to fight the disease and remain active and connected. He worked for more two more years, retiring at 85. Ever the athlete, he worked with a physical trainer and continued to hit balls at the driving range, even in the last weeks of his life. Most of all, Jim was a loving husband, father, grandfather, uncle and friend. In the very last days of his life, he looked at a grandson’s wedding pictures, counseled another grandson on his college courses, asked about another’s golf game, and received the first Jump Wings of a great-niece who attends the Airforce Academy, an honor that brought him to tears. He will be sorely missed by his surviving family members, who include: wife Karen Klem Smith of Bethesda, MD; children James E. Smith (Laura) of Rapid City, SD, Susan E. Asdourian (Tony) of Catonsville, MD, Mary-Margaret Bayo (Mel) of Baltimore, MD, and Kevin D. King (Jennifer) of New York, NY; grandchildren Anthony Smith (Mallory), Joshua, Christiana and Michael Bayo, Elijah Asdourian, and Justin and Callum King; and nephew Dan Schenk (Becky) of Pierre, SD and niece Cate Thompson of Indianapolis, IN, as well as great-grandchildren and great-nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Wounded Warriors Project.