Owen T. Smith, restaurateur, attorney and global scholar, dies at 85

Owen T. Smith, a restaurateur, attorney and global scholar who made an imprint on Nassau County and national politics, and stewarded Long Island dining institutions, died Monday after a long illness.

Smith, of Roslyn Harbor, was 85.

Owen Telfair Smith was born in 1937, the son of Lauraine Murphy and O. Telfair Smith. He grew up in Brooklyn and Manhasset and graduated from Friends Academy in Locust Valley.

His mother’s family had run the Candlelight restaurants and later, the Lauraine Murphy Restaurant, which was a mainstay in Manhasset for 40 years.

It was a storied American restaurant where Smith got a taste for the industry while peeling potatoes and baking its famous popovers.

But his mother told him not to pursue hospitality as a profession. Instead, she steered him to a career as a lawyer, recalled his wife of 37 years, Bernadette Casey Smith. 

“He wanted to become a restaurateur, but his mother said 'that's no life, you don't want to,' " Casey Smith said. "His mother said to get a straight education, and then he became a lawyer."

Smith graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and later St. John's University School of Law.

But he achieved success in both professions.

'He loved restaurants'

In a decadeslong career he, with his family, owned the famous Milleridge Inn in Jericho and George Washington Manor, which is now Hendrick's Tavern, in Roslyn.

“He loved restaurants, he loved to help people, to serve people,” Bernadette Casey Smith said.

When there were thousands of people turning up for Thanksgiving dinners, and Mother's Day brunches, at his restaurants, "that was a thrill to him," she said.

In the 1960s he began working for the law firm of Hall, Casey, Dickler and Howley, which was run by William Casey, his future wife's father, who was CIA director in the 1980s.

He also worked for Leonard Hall, a former Oyster Bay Republican leader and a GOP national chairman, including for Richard Nixon's 1960 campaign for president.

Smith served as chairman of many boards, including the Nassau County Planning Commission and state Board of Elections. He led the Center for Family Business at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. There he was a professor of law, economics and government.

In the 1980s, Smith was an influential government official working as top aide to Republican County Executive Fran Purcell.

Nassau deputy county executive

Smith's proudest accomplishment as a deputy county executive was overseeing the 1984 International Games for the Disabled in Uniondale. Events took place at the Mitchel Athletic Complex, Hofstra University and Nassau Community College.

President Ronald Reagan came for the opening ceremonies, and the event featured athletes from 54 countries.

"He walked with kings and paupers," said Matt Dwyer of Long Beach, a longtime family friend who is director of Nassau County's Office for the Physically Challenged. 

But Smith "never lost the common touch."

Smith also was chairman of The Institute of World Politics, a graduate school of international affairs and national security, in Washington D.C., and served as emeritus chairman in recent years.

Tributes poured in last week from influential Nassau County Republican politicians.

In an email, former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, a Republican from Island Park, told Newsday: “Owen Smith was a true patriot. He loved his country and he served his community of Nassau County with great distinction. He was a man, who when he gave his word, you could count on it.”

Former Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said Smith was a "Renaissance man who could speak on almost any subject with knowledge and passion. Quite a unique individual."

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the county "has lost a great citizen who will be remembered for his contributions in law, business, government and philanthropy."

A funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Roslyn Harbor, with an interment to follow at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury.

With Ellen Yan

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.