John Delbert Smith

John Delbert Smith of Mountain Brook, AL went to be with the Lord surrounded by his family on January 12, 2016 after a courageous battle with a rare form of cancer called cholangiocarcinoma. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, son, uncle and friend.

John was born in Atlanta on September 13, 1951 and grew up in nearby Marietta where he attended Marietta High School. John was a loyal bulldog and graduated from the University of Georgia Magna Cum Laude in 1972 where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.

John began his career in the corporate retirement and insurance industry with John Hancock in Boston, MA. In 1979 he moved to Montgomery, AL and acquired the life insurance/ actuarial firm for which he had worked at age 28. It then became Executive Benefit Systems, Inc. later becoming 1 of 12 founding firms of NYSE Company National Financial Partners (NFP). John lived in Montgomery for 25 years before expanding his business footprint to La Jolla, CA and then to Birmingham AL in 2004.

For the past 36 years John was an industry leader in the production and service of financial products for the affluent market. John’s unabashed advocacy for life insurance as being critical and of paramount importance for his clients was proven by his own unexpected diagnosis. He was a pioneer in the adaptation of life insurance as a unique stand alone investment class by highlighting it’s “Structural Alpha”, the advantage it offers by increasing return for a given level of risk. He was an independent agent who could represent any carrier and regularly led the country in production with one or more of the largest and most trusted insurance companies. He was a long time member of the Top of the Table which is made up of less than 1% of the life insurance industry’s elite Million Dollar Round Table’s top producers. John has long been an advocate for ethics as the most important of the best practices among insurance agents for the ultimate benefit of the clients they serve. John served on the Board of Directors of Partners Financial, the Advisory Board of NFP Inc. More recently he was the first of now one hundred firms to establish Lion Street Inc. and was also on their Board of Directors. John was a well known and respected speaker at industry events characterized by unique ideas and approaches presented with a heavy dose of humor and transferability. He freely shared his knowledge to help further the careers of many of his peers.

He was Chairman of The Diabetes Trust Fund and under his direction helped initially fund The Comprehensive Diabetes Center at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, AL. He was a member of Canterbury United Methodist Church. John will be remembered for his intelligence, sense of humor, generosity, love of family and strong faith.

He is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 27 years ,Shannon Camp Smith, their daughter (his heart) Lacy Caroline Smith, his beloved sons, Jeremy (Christina) Smith, Athens, GA and Joshua Smith, Portland Oregon, granddaughter Violet Jeanine Smith, Athens GA and nieces and nephews. He was pre-deceased by his parents Dorothy Haney Smith and John Delbert Smith, brothers, James R. Smith, Donald E. Smith, Charles D. Smith and Robin Smith.

A celebration of John’s life will be held on Thursday in the sanctuary at 2:00 with visitation in the church parlor prior to the service at 1:00 at Canterbury United Methodist Church, 350 Overbrook Road Mountain Brook AL 35213. Honorary Pallbearers will be Johnny Adcock, Rich Baer, Brent Camp, Bob Carter, John Crews, Tom Cawthon, David Fisher, Alan Fuller, Mike James, Bobby Jones, Bill Payne, Rod Sager and John Smith T., Ray Watts and Marc Schwartz.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center.