Cecil Smith

Coleman Cecil Smith died unexpectedly on December 25, 2023. He will be greatly missed by his longtime partner Linda Cooney; sister Nita and her husband Leon Rausch and their children, Scott, Brian and Celeste; brother-in-law Bill Newman and his wife Shelly and their children Courtney and Matthew; sister-in-law Marsha and her husband Joe Robbins. He was preceded in death by his wife, Lynn, and parents Coleman and Christine Smith.

Cecil, a lifelong Dallas resident, was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, class of 1965. He attended Southern Methodist University (SMU class of 1969) on a Music scholarship playing the concert string bass, graduating with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Fine Arts. He became a certified Professional Engineer, recently achieving a 50-year milestone. He initially worked extensively with the SMU TAGER system used to remotely educate students. He worked for Tektronix as an electronic test equipment salesman, achieving the 2nd highest sales in the US. Cecil was heavily involved in broadcast television systems, working as a private consultant on multiple closed-circuit and broadcast television systems. He retired from the Dallas County Community College District as Director, Engineering and Production Services at R. Jan LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications.

He shared his knowledge and expertise by writing the book Mastering TV Technology followed up by Answers to Television Technology: An Encore. Both were self-published under the Newman Smith publishing label. The book was used in multiple colleges as a textbook in addition to being used by Cecil to teach courses at Northlake College.

Cecil loved flying and had a small plane pilots license for many years. He traveled extensively, seeing every continent. His travels included visiting China the year after it was opened for tourism, all the original Disney theme parks around the world, and multiple cruises.

Cecil, gentle soul, always humble, compassionate and caring, rest in eternal peace.

Graveside Services will be at 11:00 AM Saturday February 17, 2024 at Grove Hill Memorial Park.