Harry M. Smiley

Harry M. Smiley, 77, a retired professor of chemistry at Eastern Kentucky University, died of lymphoma on Feb. 2.

Born in Bourbon County, Ky., Smiley received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Eastern Kentucky State College in 1955. He then earned an M.S. in 1957 and a Ph.D. in 1960, both in chemistry from the University of Kentucky.

Smiley began his career as a research chemist at Union Carbide in Charleston, W.Va. In 1967, he joined the faculty at Eastern Kentucky (which acquired university status in 1966) as an associate professor and was promoted to professor and department chair in 1970, a position he held until his retirement in 1996.

During his career, he oversaw the inception of Eastern Kentucky’s M.S. program in chemistry and helped forge an alliance between the chemistry department and the forensic science program. Upon his death, the Eastern Kentucky chemistry department and the Eastern Kentucky University Foundation established the Harry Smiley Memorial Graduate Award.

Smiley obtained a degree in nursing from Eastern Kentucky in 1998. He spent more than 10 years in the nursing profession, serving as a volunteer for much of that time. He regularly volunteered at the Health Now Clinic, a free clinic in Richmond, Ky. He made multiple trips to Haiti to provide volunteer health care and traveled to Nepal to help establish a nursing school.

Smiley is survived by his wife of 54 years, Claudia; daughter, Cheryl Havrilesko; sons Jeffrey and David; and seven grandchildren.