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Robert L. Smith
Robert L. Smith was born in San Diego, California in 1924, graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1942, and inducted into the United States army in 1943. He trained a...view moreRobert L. Smith was born in San Diego, California in 1924, graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1942, and inducted into the United States army in 1943. He trained as a surgical technician and shipped to Normandy, France in July 1944, where he served as a companty aid man with the 28th Infantry Division from July 16 until wounded in Wallendorf, Germany in September. Returning to combat, just before the Battle of the Ardennes in December, he promoted from private to staff sergeant. His military decorations include the Purple Heart, The Bronze Star, and five Battle Stars for the European Theater of Operations, Combat Medical Badge, and the Good Conduct Medal.
Attending college under the GI Bill of Rights he matriculated at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Berkeley where he received his BA in 1949 and MA in Sociology and Social Institutions in 1955.
His fifty plus year professional career was dedicated to the administration and reform of juvenile and criminal justice at the local, state, and federal levels of government. He held positions as Trainee, Probation Officer, Parole Officer, Supervising Parole Officer, Senior Prevention Consultant, Chief of Planning, Assistant Chief of Research, and Deputy Director with the California Youth Authority, and Assistant Director with the National Institute of Corrections before his second retirement in 1983.
Special awards include a Fulbright Scholarship to Britain in 1961, Winston Churchill Fellowship Grant to England in 1969, selection as Visiting Expert to the United nations Asian Far Eastern Institute in fuchu, Japan, in 1971, and Leader for six professional visits of Criminal justice Experts to China from 1979-1990, and one to the Soviet Union in 1989.
He retired for a third time in2000 to devote time to his new found interest, "being a story teller," which resulted in "Medic!", The Carnival of Animals, Time Out, Never Waste the Flowers, Desires of the Heart, and Quest, his sixth book.
Robert and Fran Williams married in 1950, and made their home in Berkeley, California in 1951, where they continue to live.view less