(Image: Phil Smart Facebook)
Even after he sold it, you could still find Phil Smart Sr. working at the Mercedes dealership he owned and operated on E Pike for more than 50 years. It still bore his name, after all. Smart, one of the last of Capitol Hill’s auto row entrepreneurs, died Friday night. The First Hill resident was 93.
The Seattle Times has more on his civic activities and military service.
Friends, family and acquaintances are encouraged to leave remembrances of Smart on his Facebook page.
CHS reported on the sale of the Smart Mercedes dealership in spring 2012. It was a harbinger of further change. The land beneath — also owned by Smart — was also on the market. Last month, this seven-story apartment project planned to be built at the site of the E Pike dealership had its first pass through Seattle’s design review process. It will incorporate components of the 1909-built building. Developer Avalon Bay is currently under contract to purchase the land as the development moves forward.
(Image: Smart Mercedes)
Reading this, I was reminded of the passing of an entire generation of such folks. My dad was among those. His business was merely one local supermarket, but his generation had instilled in them a set of values that led many to great accomplishment, and even in more modest walks like his, he adhered to high standards. Too bad kids today learn so little history, and thus are left with too many shallow role models from pop culture, and it shows.
Here here