NAHB Mourns the Passing of Past President David C. Smith
David Clark Smith, NAHB President for 1986, passed away Sunday at the age of 90.
Smith was born in rural Virginia and grew up on a farm in Maryland. After a stint in the Army National Guard, Smith built his first home for his wife and himself in 1953.
In 1959, he opened his own home building company, David C. Smith, Inc., a company that still does business as David C. Smith & Sons in Virginia.
During his career, Smith built some 1,500 homes, mostly in Maryland. He was very active in the NAHB Federation at the local level, serving as President of the Frederick County HBA, the HBA of Suburban Maryland, the Maryland HBA and the Metropolitan Washington Builders Council. He also founded the Upper Montgomery County Builders Association, which was unaffiliated with NAHB.
Once he engaged with NAHB at the national level, Smith was very active, serving as Maryland state rep and being elected President in 1986. He was inducted into the Housing Hall of Fame in 1992.
Smith was also politically active, meeting several U.S. Presidents during his career and winning an appointment from George Bush to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of Atlanta.
A funeral service will be held 11 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, at Obaugh Funeral Home in McDowell, Va.
Watch a brief clip below of Smith describing his career in his own words.
Latest from NAHBNow
Oct 23, 2025
IBS 2026 Exhibit Home Aims for Groundbreaking Energy-Efficiency RatingFor anyone curious about how far today’s innovative building products can take a home’s performance, The New American Home 2026 is the must-see showcase at the upcoming Builders’ Show, taking place Feb. 17–19.
Oct 22, 2025
NAHB Generates Enthusiasm for the Trades During the Big BuildNAHB recently introduced thousands of students to the skilled trades during The Big Build event at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
Latest Economic News
Oct 20, 2025
Non-Conventional Financing for New Home Sales Loses Ground in 2024Nationwide, the share of non-conventional financing for new home sales accounted for 31% of the market per NAHB analysis of the 2024 Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC) data. This is 1.7 percentage point lower than the 2023 share of 32.4%. As in previous years, conventional financing dominated the market at 69.3% of sales, higher than the 2023 share of 67.6%.
Oct 17, 2025
Better Growth, Larger Deficits: CBO Fiscal OutlookThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a key nonpartisan score keeper that measures the effects of policy changes by the Federal Government. With several policy changes since January of this year, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), stricter immigration, and higher tariffs, the CBO updated its economic projections through 2028.
Oct 16, 2025
Amid Market Challenges, Builder Expectations Rise in OctoberEven as builders continue to grapple with market and macroeconomic uncertainty, sentiment levels posted a solid gain in October as future sales expectations surpassed the 50-point breakeven mark for the first time since last January.