Attorney Malberry Smith Jr. was remembered Tuesday as a Southern gentleman of the old school who quietly left his mark on his adopted town.
“Malberry was a gentleman from the old school,” recalled U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr., a former partner. “He was one of the most polite people I’ve ever known.”
Smith died Monday at Buckingham South. He was 96.
He moved to Savannah in 1938 to begin his law practice. He later served in the Georgia General Assembly.
Moore said Smith was one of his first law partners when he started practicing in 1968 and remained until he became U.S. attorney in 1977.
“He was a very good trial lawyer and very organized, very smart.”
Smith then was handling mostly civil defense work and was “very good at what he did,” Moore said.
Smith’s daughter, Julie Smith, now lives in New Orleans.
She recalled her father practicing for more than 50 years, including with his “best friend” George E. Oliver, who went on to a long, distinguished career as a judge, including Chatham County Superior Court.
“Prematurely gray, he cut quite a figure in his glory days, striding to the courthouse in his seersucker suit, bow tie and white bucks,” she recalled. “A bow tie, he always said, showed you were ‘a rugged individualist,’ a description he was proud of.”
For attorney Steven Scheer, Smith “epitomized the greatest generation,” serving with distinction in WW II, then returning to serve his state and city with equal distinction.
“He was an example for young lawyers when I became a lawyer of how a lawyer should practice,” said Scheer, who began in 1974 and later with Smith in the same firm.
Among Smith’s passions was his church, Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church.
Becky Cheatham, widow of the late Chatham County Superior Court Judge Frank S. Cheatham Jr., who also was a longtime member at Wesley, recalled Smith as “a devoted husband and father who was a highly respected professional for his integrity.”
“Most of all he was the consummate gentleman,” Cheatham said. “Can you imagine Malberry ever raising his voice?
“He had a gentle spirit.”