SMITH, Peter Dean

Peter Dean Smith, 77, of Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles and Tampa, FL passed away on Saturday, April 29, 2023. He was born in Fairbury, Nebraska on August 10, 1945, the son of Dorothy Dodd Smith and Robert Smith. He graduated from Meramec Community College with a pre-engineering degree, the University of Missouri, Rolla with a BS/EE (Magna Cum Laude), and California Polytechnic University with an MEgr.

Peter was a Navy veteran serving from 1965 to 1970 and after college he began a career as an accomplished Software Engineer, beginning in 1976 at the Fleet Analysis Center in Corona, CA as a Missile Flight Analyst. Moving to Puerto Rico in 1984, he worked at the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico as a systems analyst for RCA Service Company. In 1989 he managed the Engineering and Integration Department at the US Army’s National Training Center in the Mojave Desert outside of Barstow, CA for GE Aerospace, Martin Marietta, and Lockheed Martin. In 1995, he and his family moved to Massachusetts where he continued to work as a software developer for Raytheon working on satellite communications systems such as MILSTAR and DAMA. In April 2000, remaining with Raytheon, he was transferred to their St. Petersburg facility, where he retired in 2013. He and his wife Linda moved to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands in 2015 and spent 5 happy years in their favorite part of the world, the Caribbean. In 2020 they moved to Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles.

Peter enjoyed travel, cruising, watching football, reading, playing Wordle and doing crossword puzzles. He was particularly adept at trivia, especially anything involving music from 1955 to 1990.

Survivors include his son, Cory; daughter-in-law Jennifer; his daughter, Alexis; his granddaughters,  Addison and Mia; his sister, Penelope Kiss; his sister, Patricia Fowler; his former wife, Karen Smith Masterson; and his wife, Linda Slawson. He was preceded in death by his brother, Paul.