Douglas Lees photoStephen Bruce Smart, Jr., a well-known, highly respected, and popular figure in Virginia’s horse country, died at his home in Middleburg on Thanksgiving Day at age ninety-five.
In his retirement from commerce and government, he established Trappe Hill Farm in Upperville, Virginia, where he owned, bred, and sent winning steeplechase horses to the racecourses. The successful racing and breeding operation, however, was just the tip of the iceberg that encompassed his passion and commitment to horses, foxhunting, showing, conservation of open space, and all the working people and institutions that make up the Community of the Horse. Which was the title of a three-volume set of books he wrote and published, synthesizing how horses play a unique role in knitting entire communities together.
Bruce Smart’s “community” has suffered an immense loss.
For more than thirty years he worked for the Continental Group (formerly Continental Can), a Fortune 100 company, rising to the position of Chairman and CEO. In 1985 he was appointed Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade by President Ronald Reagan, a position he held until 1988.
A lifelong outdoorsman and conservationist, he was Vice Chairman of the Nature Conservancy and went on to become a senior fellow and board member of the World Resources Institute and a member of the board of directors of the League of Conservation Voters. He wrote extensively on business, ethics, and the environment. His 1992 book, Beyond Compliance: A New Industry View of the Environment, pointed the way for companies to adapt to climate change.
In 1987 Bruce and wife Edith (Merrill) Smart moved from New England to Virginia, where at Trappe Hill Farm he owned and managed both horses and cattle. His lifelong passion for competition, incubated on schoolboy hockey teams and honed on racing sailboats, found an outlet in Thoroughbred steeplechasing. He inherited a love of antiques and history from his mother and strongly believed that an appreciation of the past was necessary to forging a sustainable future.
Bruce served as a member of Loudoun County’s Zoning Ordinance Working Group and the county’s Tax Equity Committee. He was Chairman and Trustee Emeritus of Middleburg Academy (formerly Notre Dame Academy), Senior Warden of Trinity Episcopal Church of Upperville, and a member of the Virginia Governor’s Commission on Climate Change. He is the author of two memoirs and a trilogy about the people and culture of his beloved community, as described above.
Bruce attended Milton Academy, graduated from Harvard College, and earned a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from MIT. When his academic career was interrupted by World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Department, returning to service during the Korean War as a First Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers.
He was born in New York City on February 7, 1923, to Beatrice (Cobb) Smart and Stephen Bruce Smart, former president and chairman of Fruit of the Loom, Inc. Soon after, the family moved to Bedford, New York, where he grew up.
Besides Edie, his wife of sixty-nine years, he is survived by his sister, four children, eleven grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 9108 John S. Mosby Highway, Upperville, VA, on Saturday, December 8 at 10:00 AM. A reception will follow the service at Buchanan Hall, 8459 John S. Mosby Highway, Upperville, VA.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to any conservation organization of your choice.
Posted November 29, 2018