Furniture titan Walter E. Smithe Jr. dies; leaves a legacy Chicago-area business – Chicago Tribune
Walter E. Smithe Jr. led Walter E. Smithe Furniture & Design, an Itasca-based, custom-order furniture firm that was an offshoot of a Northwest Side appliance store that his father had formed in 1945.
“He was really proud to work with so many talented and charismatic people,” said his granddaughter, Maureen Smithe.
Smithe, 86, died of natural causes on Oct. 9 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, his granddaughter said. He was a North Side resident and previously had lived in Park Ridge and Lake Barrington Shores. .
Walter Edward Smithe Jr. grew up on the Northwest Side of Chicago and graduated from Fenwick High School in 1954 and the University of Notre Dame in 1958. Smithe then served a stint in the Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana before returning to Chicago and embarking on a career in the computer industry, with jobs first at General Electric and then as a printing and publishing specialist at IBM, according to a company biography.
In 1967, Smithe joined the family business, which his father had co-founded in 1945 with Bill Shanahan under the name “Tone Appliance,” according to an interview he gave to the Daily Herald newspaper in 2016. They soon changed the name of their single appliance store, which was at 5500 W. Belmont Avenue on Chicago’s Northwest Side, to “Smithe & Shanahan,” and they eventually moved the store to the corner of Belmont and Central Avenues.
Smithe eventually convinced his two brothers to expand their business into custom-order furniture, and it was such a success that they opened a 4,500-square-foot store in Park Ridge selling custom-order sofas and chairs. Smithe then wanted to open a second store, but at that point, he and his brothers came to an amicable parting, in which he sold them his interest in Smithe & Shanahan and they sold him their interest in the Park Ridge furniture store.
In 1982, Smithe changed the business’ name to Walter E. Smithe Furniture & Design. He oversaw further expansions of the chain’s store base.
“We looked at a map of the Chicago area and realized it formed a crescent. So we decided to open stores throughout that crescent, from north to south, so that all the stores were within a half-hour of each other and located in communities with name appeal,” Smithe told the Daily Herald in 2016. “We opened a store in Schaumburg, followed by one in Arlington Heights, and on and on — up until the recession.”
In the 1990s, Smithe semi-retired from work, turning over day-to-day operations of the chain to his three sons. However, he remained president of the company and “continued to meet clients and assist designers in our showrooms every weekend,” his granddaughter said.
“My sisters and I looked forward to his daily email recap where he shared stories about the clients he interacted with and compliments for our staff,” his granddaughter said.
Smithe loved being onsite at the business’ showrooms, according to his family.
“In the family business, we are all taught from an early age that hard work and a humble heart go a long way,” Maureen Smithe said. “There were times he was sweeping the floors and times when he was working with clients and every job in between. This is the magic of a family business, and he was a master at it.”
Outside of work, Smithe enjoyed studying antiquity and culture, and in 1980, he earned a master’s degree in anthropology from Loyola University of Chicago. He wrote a thesis based on archeological sites that he had observed on land that he and his wife had owned in Ireland, according to a company biography.
Smithe also enjoyed volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, both in the U.S. and in Central America, according to a company biography.
In addition to his granddaughter, Smithe is survived by his wife of 64 years, Florence; three sons, Walter III, Tim and Mark; four daughters, Cindy Perry, Margaret, Hope Byrne and Amy; 15 other grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; two brothers, Tomm and Gary; and a sister, Nancy Waters.
A visitation will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 at Ryan-Parke Funeral Home, 120 S. Northwest Highway, in Park Ridge. A funeral mass will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22 at St. Paul of the Cross Church, 140 S. Northwest Highway, Park Ridge.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
