Necrology

David Vincent Smalley '56

Mar. 27, 1935-Nov. 8, 2024

David Vincent Smalley ’56, P’93 died in Stamford, Conn., on Nov. 8, 2024. Born on March 27, 1935, and raised in Larchmont, N.Y., he came to Hamilton from Mamaroneck High School. On the Hill, he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and majored in political science in preparation for a legal career. 

His extracurricular activities were primarily focused on athletics. While he only played junior varsity basketball during his freshman year, he was on the lacrosse, soccer, and sailing teams throughout his time at Hamilton. He was commodore of the sailing team in his junior year and co-captain of the soccer team, for which he was also goalie, as a senior. He was a member of the Block “H” Club. 

Additionally, Dave was elected to the Doers & Thinkers honor society as a sophomore, sang in the choir his first two years, was in Nous Onze as both a junior and senior, served as president of the student council in his final year, and was tapped for Pentagon. As a junior, he also won the Dean Alfange Essay Prize, awarded to a student who writes the best essay on a feature or issue of American constitutional government.

In his senior year, Dave was one of eight political science majors to spend a week in Washington, D.C., meeting with officials from the Eisenhower administration, U.S. Supreme Court, and Congress. Most memorable were interactions with the special assistant to the secretary of agriculture as well as a representative of the Bureau of the Budget. The group also had the privilege of meeting with Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Black. Given his interest in his field, Dave unsurprisingly graduated with honors in his major.

During his time on the Hill, Dave met Patricia “Trix” Tolles, daughter of Dean Winton Tolles. Their relationship would flourish, and in 1964 they were married. They had two sons.

From Hamilton, Dave proceeded to Harvard Law School, where he continued to distinguish himself academically. He was elected chair of the first-year administrative committee of the law school’s board of student advisors, and, on June 11, 1959, he graduated cum laude.

Departing Cambridge for New York City, Dave joined the law firm of Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates (now Debevoise & Plimpton LLP), where he would remain throughout his 40-year career. Specializing in corporate law, he would later describe his work in his 50th reunion yearbook as “challenging, demanding, interesting, satisfying, and mostly fun.” His colleagues were “good and smart people who had high values and varied interests, and with clients to match.” Joining the firm as an associate, he became a partner in 1968. Early in his career, Dave served as president of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and served a term as president of the Metropolitan New York Hamilton Alumni Association.

The law was not Dave’s only preoccupation: he was equally devoted to sailing, an interest dating from childhood. A longtime member of the Larchmont Yacht Club, Dave sailed competitively in several one-design racing classes of boats from Interclub Dinghies, the design of which had been sponsored by the club in 1946; to Etchells, introduced by the Old Greenwich (Conn.) Boatyard in 1962. Yet another class of sailboat Dave sailed was the Shields 30, the number referring to the sloop’s overall length, that was also introduced in 1962.

Dave’s success as a competitive racer was noteworthy. In 1966, he and a friend were the national champions in the Shields class. In 1973 and 1974, he won the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island’s Frostbite Championships. As the name implies, frostbite sailing is done in late fall and early winter, when temperatures are low and the wind chills lower, but ice has not yet formed.

Devoted to the Larchmont Yacht Club, Dave served in one office or another there for years, ultimately becoming its commodore. He was on the race committee and advocated for the club’s Interclub Dinghy and Etchells fleets. He was active in its junior sailing program and, during Larchmont’s Junior Race Week, encouraged competition among younger sailors who competed in Optimists: dinghies not quite 8’ long, with a single, gaff-rigged sail, accommodating a single sailor and intended for use by youth up to age 15.

On land, Dave continued to play soccer and lacrosse, his carry-over sports from Hamilton. At one time he served as the director of the American Trust for the British Library. He was also a special sort of opera buff. While he would regularly attend performances of works by many composers as a season-ticket holder at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at heart he was a Wagnerite, a devotee of the works of the German composer Richard Wagner. 

Between 1853 and 1874, Wagner composed four operas conceived as a tetralogy, generally known as “The Ring Cycle.” At a minimum, the set was to be performed over four days; more customary was spreading performances over an entire season. As a measure of his devotion to these works, Dave attended more than 20 performances of the complete cycle. 

Looking back in his 50th reunion yearbook, Dave regarded Hamilton as “a large and positive part of my life experience.” His memories of it were “of friendships, sports, professors, and, yes, parties.” 

Given the extent and magnitude of his support of the College, it is clear that this doesn’t fully capture the impact it had on him. At different times, he held almost a dozen offices, ranging from chairing his class’s 40th reunion committee and its reunion gift committee, to serving as an officer of the Alumni Association and as an alumni trustee. 

His financial commitment to the College started immediately after graduation, with his first donation to the Hamilton Fund. Over the years, he directed support to a variety of College programs, from men’s soccer and the Tolles Lecture series, to endowments for professorships, scholarships, and capital campaigns. He also played major roles in the establishment of the Winton and Patricia Tolles Scholarship and the Patricia Tolles Smalley Scholarship, the latter in memory of his wife, who died in 2011.

Predeceased by his father, Vincent R. Smalley ’22, GP ’83, ’85, 93, his brother Richard ’53, his son Gregory, and his wife, Patricia, David V. Smalley is survived by his sister Mary Susan, his daughter Barbara ’83 and sons John ’85 and Brian ’93, his daughter-in-law Susan, and two grandsons.

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