Dr. M.P. Smith, physician and surgeon, dies

Lois Blatto's breathing and quality of life improved greatly at the hands of Dr. Maynard P. Smith.

Dr. Smith, who lived in Henrico County, died Friday at St. Mary's Hospital after a long career as a physician and surgeon specializing in the treatment of ear, nose and throat disorders. He was 94.

"He was the most loving and caring doctor, and the most understanding doctor I've ever known," said Blatto, whose nose was reconstructed by Dr. Smith in 1962.

A native of Farmville, Dr. Smith attended Randolph-Macon College in Ashland before following his father and a brother into medicine. He graduated from the University of Virginia's medical school in 1938 and later settled in Richmond with his wife, Mary Helen Young Smith.

Dr. Smith eventually established his own medical practice on Monument Avenue. It was there that Blatto became a patient.

Blatto, whose nose had been broken during childhood, said Dr. Smith studied her case for six months before performing a 4½-hour rhinoplasty that helped her breathe more easily. "He was my hero at the time," she said.

Dr. Smith served as a clinical instructor at the Medical College of Virginia from 1942 to 1955 and as chief of the residency-training program in rhinology from 1955 to 1968. He later became a clinical professor in MCV's Department of Otolaryngology.

He also served as chief of staff and president of the board of trustees for the Richmond Eye & Ear Hospital, as well as president of the Virginia Society of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. He received a service award from the American Rhinologic Society in 1963.

Dr. Smith retired in 2002 at age 88 -- years after many of his colleagues. He spent his final years tending to his vegetable garden and making use of his extensive power-tool collection in the workshop that he had built.

"He just loved being a doctor and helping people so much," said Eleanor Wellford, one of Dr. Smith's daughters. "There was nothing that he would quit medicine to do. He just spent his life in service to others. That is what he was happiest doing."

The family was reminded of that in Dr. Smith's final days. As he lay in a hospital bed, Wellford noticed her father's hands moving as if he were suturing a patient.

"I loved it," she said, "because in his mind he was going back to where he was happiest."

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of nearly 70 years; three other children, Barbara Smith-Moran of Concord, Mass., Elizabeth Hankins of Ocean Springs, Miss., and Harrison Smith of Earlysville; and six grandchildren. A graveside service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.