Orin Smith, Dedicated Donor and Hometown Hero, Dies at 75

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Orin Smith, a product of Chehalis who became a wildly successful businessman and a prolific philanthropist who supported dozens of projects and causes in Lewis County and beyond, has died. 

He was 75. 

Smith had for the past several years resided in Jackson, Wyoming, but his heart never left his hometown, said Chehalis attorney J. Vander Stoep, who worked closely with Smith through the Chehalis Foundation and a number of other fronts. 

Smith’s contributions included sizeable donations to Centralia College, the Chehalis Foundation and its Student Achievement Initiative, the Gail and Carolyn Shaw Aquatics Center and the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, which is named for his mother.

“If you look around our community,” Vander Stoep told The Chronicle Friday, pausing to list off some of the projects, “I (can’t) think of anybody I know who has had a bigger positive impact on our community here.”

Smith’s death came as a result of pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed last summer and had been seeking treatment. 

“Our family is deeply saddened by our loss,” said Vicki Ducharme, the sister of Orin, Michael and Kevin Smith. “We have so many incredible memories with Orin and are thankful for the values that he exhibited in his daily life and instilled in all of us. We’ll miss his humor, his love, his laughter, his hugs. He was our beloved brother and he will be so missed.”

Condolences came from far and wide as news of Smith’s death was announced Friday, with one statement coming from Howard Schultz, founder and executive chairman of Starbucks Corporation, where Smith served as CEO before retiring. 

“Orin Smith was a beloved friend, mentor and leader whose deep compassion, fierce determination, patient wisdom and personal humility is forever embedded into the culture of Starbucks and imprinted into the hearts of all who knew him and called him family,” Schultz said. “For those of us fortunate enough to have worked with Orin, I can tell you that the pain of his loss is being felt as strongly as the joy of his presence. Personally, Orin taught me what it means to lead and to live with humanity. His influence will be with me always.”

Smith was also on the board for The Walt Disney Company, among others. Robert Iger, chairman and CEO of Disney, provided a statement calling Orin’s presence “a gift in the lives of everyone who knew him.”

“Orin was a class act, the quintessential gentleman, and a truly great friend,” Iger wrote. “I will always miss his wise counsel, but I’ll miss his friendship most of all. Orin lived with great purpose, he acted with impeccable integrity, and he treated everyone with endless kindness. An unabashed Disney fan, he helped lead us through a transformative era of growth, ensuring we’ll continue to entertain the world for generations to come …  Today my thoughts are with his beloved wife, Janet, and their family, who feel his absence most of all.”

 

Nationally and internationally, Smith will be remembered as a dedicated, astute and driven businessman, but locally his legacy will be one of philanthropy and a man who never forgot where he came from. 

“What a great man he was,” said State Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. “He gave so much for the community … Not very often in our lives do you have a philanthropist on that level.”

While his financial contributions to community projects and foundations are well known, Vander Stoep said Orin Smith’s guidance and focus on the success of programs and projects he supported was just as helpful in driving a continual wave of growth and progress in Lewis County. 

“It isn’t just the money,” Vander Stoep said. “It’s the focus and the energy and the experience of management and effective business practices that he’s brought to everything in this area that has been as beneficial or more than his  contributions.”



Late last year, Smith announced he would donate $10 million for the Chehalis Foundation’s Student Achievement Initiative, which has found great success in preparing students for college or apprenticeships through work with the BERC Group, a renowned consulting firm that has helped guide a series of changes in the district. 

That investment will result in $500,000 for the initiative annually in perpetuity. 

Vander Stoep said Friday the $10 million donation came after Smith asked last year for a memo detailing what the Foundation would need to ensure the initiative continues to be successful in preparing students for life after high school. He was getting his affairs in order as he battled cancer. 

“He said, ‘I want to make sure that this effort does not fail for lack of resources,’” Vander Stoep said. 

Smith continued to focus on his philanthropy and progress in Chehalis amid his health struggles. He sent two emails and a letter to Vander Stoep last month alone, asking about various aspects of the Student Achievement Initiative. He donated $30,000 toward an effort to build a statue of Centralia founders George and Mary Jane Washington in January. 

His philanthropy extends beyond what has been made public, with many telling The Chronicle last year of his donations for local food banks, the Industrial Park at TransAlta and a broad range of additional projects. 

Smith rose from humble beginnings in Chehalis to become the CEO of Starbucks and an icon in the business world. As Vander Stoep said earlier this year, he would have been defined as “at risk” in today’s parlance, as his family had a very low income and enjoyed few luxuries. His mother, Vernetta, would often take her children and their friends to the Chehalis library as entertainment, a fact Orin used to in large part launch his philanthropy when he donated about $1 million for the library that now carries his mother’s name. 

He graduated from W.F. West in 1960, having been a member of the only boys basketball team to win a state championship in school history.

After that, he graduated from Centralia College, the University of Washington and Harvard Business School. He served as the budget director for two Washington governors. He led the Pacific Northwest consulting practice of what’s known today as Deloitte. He served as CEO of two international transportation companies. 

Smith then signed on to work with a regional coffee company known as Starbucks. In the years that followed, he rose to the position of CEO. Beyond his personal growth, his leadership of the company coincided with the company’s explosive expansion into an international business behemoth. 

When his career was all said and done, he consistently returned to the community where he was raised in order to provide financial backing to projects he found to be promising.

Smith’s family was especially fond of a quote found in an article published in the UW Foster Business School magazine summarizing his life and career. 

“Earnest, compassionate, humble. A principled leader and man of exceptional integrity. That was and is the essence of Orin Smith,” said Anne McGonigle, of Starbucks. “You could take the kid out of Chehalis and send him to the University of Washington, Harvard Business School and the heights of business success, but you could never take Chehalis out of the kid.”

Smith was selected as the Person of the Year by The Chronicle last January, on the heels of his $10 million donation to the Chehalis Foundation. 

He thanked the community of Chehalis in a statement acknowledging the honor. 

“I have always believed much of the success I have enjoyed in life was due to the strength of the Chehalis community, its caring citizens who were mentors to me in my early years and outstanding community leadership,” he wrote. “Accordingly, nothing has given me greater joy than the opportunity I have had in recent years to work with community and education leaders to provide current and future generations with the same opportunities that were made available to me. In every respect since the initial planning for the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library through more recent education initiatives, Chehalis has proven to be an incredibly generous community with outstanding leadership and broad community participation. The Chehalis Foundation and Chehalis Renaissance are organizations that I am honored to be a part of, and the ability to participate in projects that improve the quality of life for the Chehalis community gives me great joy. What we have been able to accomplish together has been remarkable and I believe it is only the beginning. Thank you Chehalis for allowing me to be part of the Chehalis community. The positive experience for me has far exceeded my expectations.”