C. Murray Smart Jr., University Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Dies at Age 83

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Murray Smart

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Clifton Murray Smart Jr., 83, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, University Professor emeritus of Architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, passed away Aug. 9, in Fayetteville.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 27, at First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, with visitation in the chapel at 1 p.m., under the direction of Moore's Chapel. Interment will be in Fayetteville National Cemetery.

Smart joined the University of Arkansas faculty in 1966. He served the university in teaching, research and service for more than 32 years, continuing to teach as a professor emeritus after his retirement in 1998.

"Murray Smart was that rare architectural educator who was equally gifted as a scholar, a practitioner and a leader in the university and the community," said Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, associate dean of the Fay Jones School. "Murray's passion for great and beautiful buildings, from his beloved Victorian churches and their splendid stained glass to the towers of Angkor Wat, was a constant source of inspiration for me, and no doubt, for so many others. We will miss the joy he exuded for all things architectural."

Smart served as the school's second dean for 15 years, from 1976-91, the longest tenure of any person holding that position. During his term as dean, the school saw a threefold increase in its faculty, added a landscape architecture program, acquired the Lake Hamilton property that would become Garvan Woodland Gardens, began offering a master's degree in community planning, began the program providing a semester of study in Rome for all architecture students, and had its home in Vol Walker Hall renovated.

"As our second dean, Murray Smart led a young school through a period of growth in size, ambition, outreach and accomplishment," said Dean Peter MacKeith. "As a professor of architecture, he led a generation of students and faculty towards deeper understandings of architecture's cultural significance, and as importantly, towards deeper understandings of themselves. The school is what it is today by virtue of his devotion and commitment, and he leaves a legacy and an identity upon which we will continue to build."

The east lobby of Vol Walker Hall was named the C. Murray Smart Jr. Lobby in 2013, an honor made possible by a $250,000 gift from his son Clifton J. Smart III (J.D. 1986, School of Law) and daughter-in-law, M. Gail Smart (J.D. 1987, School of Law). The slide library and media center in the Fay Jones School was named the C. Murray Smart Jr. Media Center in his honor. He and his family also established a Rome travel scholarship for students who excel in history courses.

In 1995, Smart received the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching and Research from the Arkansas Alumni Association. He also served as president of the Campus Faculty and the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy, and as founder and editor for seven years of Inquiry, the university's journal of undergraduate student research.

Smart also was a member and fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Arkansas Board of Architects, and served as president of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and as a co-editor of that organization's journal, Arris.

"Murray provided me with the chance to come to Fayetteville to teach 37 years ago," said Jeff Shannon, a longtime professor of architecture and former dean of the school. "I will forever be grateful to him for giving me that life-changing opportunity."

Smart was born on Aug. 8, 1933, in Blytheville, the son of Clifton Murray and Elizabeth Smart. He graduated as valedictorian of the 1951 class of Blytheville High School. He received a fellowship to Tulane University, from which he graduated in 1956 with a Master of Architecture degree.

At Tulane he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. As the first ranked student in his class, he received a scholarship to travel in Europe for three months between his fourth and fifth years of study. He entered the graduate program in City Planning and Urban Design at the University of Illinois the following year, but his graduate work was interrupted by army service. He served as a company commander of Company B, 127th Signal Battalion in Korea, before returning to finish his graduate degree. After three years of work in an architectural office in Blytheville, he was licensed to practice architecture.

Smart is survived by his wife of 57 years, Carolyn Jones Smart; two sons and two daughters-in-law, Clifton Murray Smart III and Gail Smart of Springfield, Missouri, and John David Smart and Charla Smart of Dallas, Texas; five grandsons, Murray IV and his wife Amy, David, Jim, Duncan and Philip; three great-grandchildren, Addelaynie, Parker and Emery; and two dogs, Scout and Georgi.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be sent to First Baptist Church, 20 E. Dickson St., Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 or to the C. Murray Smart Rome Traveling Scholarship (checks payable to the University of Arkansas Foundation), Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701.

Online condolences may be made through Moore's Chapel.