IVP Othal Smith Jr.
OTHAL SMITH JR., 60, International vice president for the Stove, Furnace, Energy, and Allied Appliance Workers (SFEAW) Division, passed away Oct. 16, 2007, following a heart attack near his home.
Smith was appointed to serve as International vice president on March 1, 1999, following the retirement of Thomas Kemme. He was elected to this office at the subsequent Consolidated Conventions.
Smith served as General Counsel to the Stove Workers union from 1980 until their merger with the Boilermakers union in 1994, when he withdrew from law practice to serve as the Boilermakers’ assistant to the director of research and collective bargaining services. He became director of the SFEAW Division in Jan. 1999.
A veteran of the U.S. Army, Smith also served on the Tennessee Workers Compensation Advisory Council, the Advisory Council to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, and as a board member of the Executive Steering Committee of the Tennessee Center for Labor Management Relations.
His representation of injured employees in Tennessee Supreme Court cases Clanton vs. Cain Sloan and Woods vs. Woods, dramatically changed Tennessee workers compensation law, leading to the Workers Compensation Reform Act of 1992 and subsequent worker compensation reforms.
He is survived by his wife, Charlotte Bass Smith; his son and daughter-in-law, Trey and Donna Smith, and grandchildren, Mari Olivia and Austin Trey Smith, of Gilbertsville Ky.; his son and daughter-in-law, David and Leah Smith, of Lawrenceburg, Ky.; his step-daughter and son-in-law, Carrie and Adam Wittekind, and grandchildren, Maury Frances, Mada Marie, and Mark Andrew Wittekind, of Spring Hill, Tenn.; and step-daughter and son-in-law, Morgan and Scott Shockley, and grandson, Austin Shockley, also of Spring Hill, Tenn.
