Edwin Smith, the Leon Benwell Professor of Law, International Relations, and Political Science at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern, California, died earlier this month in Los Angeles. He was 66 years old.
Professor Smith joined the faculty at the law school in 1980. He was the first African American tenured faculty member at the law school. Before joining the faculty at the University of Southern California, Professor Smith was a staff attorney for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a research associate with the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Professor Smith was a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a graduate of Harvard Law School.
