Edwin "Rip" Smith, a founding member and long-time friend of the Pacific Council, was the first minority tenured professor at USC Law. Read his obituary in the Los Angeles Times. Below, Pacific Council president emeritus Abraham Lowenthal reflects on his passing.
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I am saddened to learn of Rip Smith’s passing, and deeply regret that I had not talked with him in the last year or so. 

When I began to consider how to launch and build the Pacific Council on International Policy as a forum for thought and action leaders on the West Coast, Rip was one of the first to volunteer his ideas and time in order to develop the initiative. We worked closely together on a Study Group, convened in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations, of which we were both members. The exercise considered the ways in which West Coast perspectives on defining and pursuing US interests differ from those in the foreign policy establishment in the Northeast, and helped us develop the Pacific Council’s agenda with its distinct perspectives and insights. 

Rip Smith’s contributions then and thereafter, over many years, to help build the Pacific Council were always generous, selfless, value-driven, intelligent and practical. In this difficult period, the University, the Pacific Council, the country and the world need more colleagues like Rip Smith.
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Abraham Lowenthal is professor emeritus of International Relations at the University of Southern California and founding president emeritus of the Pacific Council.