F.G. Walton Smith

In 1953, Smith established the International Oceanographic Foundation to encourage scientific study and exploration of the oceans, which led to the opening of a marine exhibition called Planet Ocean at Biscayne Bay. The laboratory Smith founded is now the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. In 1969, he was appointed dean of the school. Smith was also chairman of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute for ten years from 1948.

With Henry Chapin, Smith wrote two books, The Ocean River (1952), and The Sun, the Sea and Tomorrow (1954).

The primary research vessel of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School is the F.G. Walton Smith, named in Smith's honor.^[2]

Smith lived with his wife May in Key Biscayne, Florida and had one daughter, Alexandra Hofgren and a grandson, Nicholas Hofgren. He was 80 years old when he died of heart failure in Miami in 1989.^[1]