Mr. Charles Jack Smith of Newton
Fuqua Bankston Funeral HomeViewed: 736
Posted by: Fuqua-Bankston
[email protected]
(334)774-4551
Date: Jun 17 2024 9:35 AM
NEWTON…Mr. Charles Jack Smith, a resident of Newton, died late Sunday afternoon, June 8, 2024, at his home. He was 74.
Celebration of Life Services will be held at 6:00 P.M. Monday, June 17, 2024, in the Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home Chapel with his brother, John Smith officiating. The family will receive friends from 5:00 until 6:00 P.M. Monday at the funeral home. Fuqua Bankston Funeral H ome of Ozark is in charge of arrangements.
Following the birth of their first child, Barbara, in March of 1949, John and Alice Smith gave birth to Charles Jaques Smith. He was born in an Army clinic in Vienna, Austria. He was named after his maternal and paternal grandfathers. In 1951 the family returned to the US and a second brother, John, was born. By 1954 the family had returned to France and their youngest child, Donald, was born in La Rochelle, France.
Charles attended US military elementary schools until the family moved back to the US. Upon their return, Charles was enrolled at the public elementary school in Newton, AL and graduated from Dale County High School in 1967.
Upon graduation, Charles earned an academic scholarship to Auburn University to study aerospace engineering. Charles’s aspiration was to join the US Navy as a pilot / engineer and someday join the astronaut corps for NASA. He was ultimately denied admission to the program solely due to issues with his vision.
He later earned an MA from Auburn in Computer Science and went on to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned two master’s degrees in engineering and management.
After graduation from MIT, Charles first worked for Ross Perot at Electronic Data Systems on assignments across the US. Charles later accepted a role with a major communications firm in Brussels, Belgium as a Vice President.
Charles returned to the US in later years and met and married Sharon Cohn whom he met while working in Dallas Texas for his own firm, Enrollment Management Systems. EMS was a successful database management company throughout the 1980s and 1990s and Charles later sold the firm to Blackbaud Education, Inc. in 2000. After living in Boston for several years, Charles returned to Newton, after the passing of his spouse.
Charles was an avid sportsman, having captained his high school football team at DCHS and later became an accomplished cyclist, riding the route of the Tour de France on several occasions.
Charles continued to work as a consultant to many firms and enjoyed bike and motorcycle riding on his many tours through Europe. At different times of his life, Charles lived and worked in Austria, France, the US, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. While Charles was certainly a global citizen, he returned to Newton in his later years where he continued to work, enjoy his hobbies, and care for his wonderful cats that he so loved.
Memorial gifts may be made in memory of Charles to the Ozark Humane Society, PO Box 2502, Ozark, Alabama 36361.
Charles passed on June 8, 2024, at far too young an age due to a heart attack induced by heat stroke on a bike ride.
You may sign a guest register at www.fuquabankston.com
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