NAHB Mourns the Passing of Past President David C. Smith

Membership
Published

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.

Subscribe to NAHBNow

Log in or create account to subscribe to notifications of new posts.

Log in to subscribe

Latest from NAHBNow

Awards

Jul 31, 2025

Pro Builder Launches Young Guns and Legends Awards

Pro Builder will be honoring leaders, innovators, disrupters, and those who have dedicated their careers to making the home building industry better through its 2025 Young Guns and Legends Awards. Deadline for nominations is Aug. 15, 2025.

Advocacy

Jul 30, 2025

Senate Panel Advances NAHB-Supported Housing Package

In a sign of NAHB’s successful efforts to make housing a top national priority, the Senate Banking Committee approved a major housing package on July 29 by a unanimous vote of 24-0.

View all

Latest Economic News

Economics

Jul 30, 2025

Fed Remains on Pause Again

At the conclusion of its July meeting, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee once again held the federal funds rate constant at a top rate of 4.5%. However, two members of the committee dissented from the decision (Fed Board Governors Waller and Bowman), the largest number of dissenting votes since 1993.

Economics

Jul 30, 2025

Market Flip: Existing Homes Outprice New Homes

In the second quarter of 2025, the median price for a new single-family home was $410,800, which was $18,600 lower than the median price of existing homes, which stood at $429,400.

Economics

Jul 29, 2025

Construction Job Openings Relatively Unchanged in June

The count of open, unfilled positions in the construction industry held steady amid a slowdown for housing, per the June Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).