Patricia M. Smith, retired deputy chief counsel for the Mid-Atlantic region of the Social Security Administration, has died at 82
She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and master’s degree in education, went to law school in her 40s, took up golf at 50, and became a serious gardener at 80.
Patricia M. Smith, 82, formerly of Chestnut Hill, retired deputy chief counsel for the Mid-Atlantic region of the Social Security Administration, former attorney at what is now the WolfBlock law firm in Philadelphia, onetime reading specialist for the Springfield Township School District in Montgomery County, mentor, and volunteer, died Friday, July 18, of gynecologic cancer at her home in Gwynedd.
Ambitious, energetic, and ultimately indomitable, Mrs. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in history and master’s degree in education, went to law school in her 40s, took up golf at 50, and became a serious gardener at 80. She was a teacher, lawyer, and, for more than 25 years, from the early 1990s to her retirement in 2017, served as counsel and then deputy chief counsel for the Social Security Administration regional office in Philadelphia.
In those roles, she advised administration officials on legal matters, helped develop policy and procedures, managed public access to records, and represented the administration in litigation. “She was a talented litigator and writer,” a former administration colleague said in an online tribute. “I learned a lot from her.”
In the 1960s, Mrs. Smith worked as a stockbroker’s assistant at Paine Webber in Massachusetts and, after moving to Philadelphia, earned her master’s degree at Temple University. In the 1970s and ’80s, she taught reading and study skills at Temple’s early learning lab and Enfield Elementary School in Springfield.
In the mid-1980s, she was so inspired by a cousin’s law school graduation ceremony that she enrolled in and graduated from the law school at Rutgers University-Camden. Always an avid reader and writer, she was adept at drafting briefs and crafting arguments, and served as an editor for the Law Review at Rutgers.
She was hired by WolfBlock right out of law school and left a few years later to join the Social Security Administration. Her undergraduate senior thesis was on the seminal 1954 court case Brown v. Board of Education.
“She had a logical brain,” said her daughter Leslie. “She loved the creative part of an argument.”
Mrs. Smith was active for nearly 60 years at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill. She chaired the annual Christmas bazaar fundraiser and cochaired the Altar Guild.
She was a regular at Bible study and ministry programs, and the church recently honored her and her husband, Rush, with a lifetime service award. She also volunteered for the Junior League of Philadelphia, Schuylkill Center, League of Women Voters, and Philadelphia Orchestra Women’s Committee.
“Pat was a woman of abiding faith,” a friend said in a tribute. “Her steadiness in all things … is an inspiration to all of us who knew her.”
Patricia Ellen McEvoy was born, the eldest of three girls and a boy, on July 15, 1943, in New York. She grew up in Manhasset, N.Y., and her father took her waterskiing on the Hudson River, and her grandmother took her on a European summer tour when she was 16.
She went to Girl Scouts summer camp, played the clarinet in her high school marching band, joined the school’s International Relations Club, and liked learning Latin. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Newton College of the Sacred Heart, now part of Boston College, in Massachusetts.
She met Rush Smith on a blind date at a college ice hockey game, and they married in 1966 and had daughters Kimberly, Leslie, and Christina. Her husband told their daughters recently he was initially impressed by “her brilliance and her kindness.”
They lived in Framingham, Mass., Princeton, Wyndmoor, Chestnut Hill, and Erdenheim before moving to Gwynedd about 18 months ago.
Mrs. Smith was a birder and painter. She sewed homemade Halloween costumes for her daughters when they were young and later knitted sweaters for everyone.
She played tennis and squash, and swam laps at the Philadelphia Cricket Club for years. Her family hosted exchange students and visiting tennis players during tournaments, and friends at the Cricket Club said it was a “second home.”
She enjoyed baking and cooking for family, friends, and fundraisers, and her signature coconut and chocolate desserts are still discussed. She liked to dance and play word games.
She took family trips to the Jersey Shore, Alaska, Europe, Israel, Jordan, and elsewhere. She doted on her grandchildren, and her daughters lovingly debated about whom she liked best.
“She taught us we could do anything by believing in us,” her family said in a tribute. “She was the heart of our family.”
In addition to her husband and daughters, Mrs. Smith is survived by six grandchildren, two sisters, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
A funeral service was held July 25.
Donations in her name may be made to Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin’s Lane, Philadelphia, Pa. 19118; and gynecologic cancer research at Penn Medicine, Development Attn: Maddie Hansen, 3535 Market St., Suite 750, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104.