BEAUMONT, Texas — Port of Beaumont announced Tuesday the longtime port commissioner Lee E. Smith died at age 79.
Smith was the first Black man to be elected Port of Beaumont Commissioners board president on May 21, 2018.
During his two years as board president, Smith oversaw the start of construction on the port’s new $80 million Main Street Terminal 1.
He was also at the Port’s helm during two record fiscal years and when the Port was awarded an $18 million Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant in 2019, according to a news release.
Smith was instrumental in the board’s actions to approve the public-private partnership with Jefferson Energy Company, which is now a state-of-the-art liquid bulk terminal in Orange County.
“Lee was a tremendous asset to the Port of Beaumont,” said Port Director and CEO Chris Fisher. “Not only did he recognize the Port’s growth potential and value in the national economy, but he was also a champion for the Port in the local community.”
Smith also served the Southeast Texas community outside of the Port of Beaumont’s commissioner's board room.
- Smith served as president of the Beaumont Metropolitan YMCA Board of Directors
- President of the North End Neighborhood Association
- Service officer of the Dorie E. Miller Post 817 of the American Legion
- Member of the NAACP
- Board member of Beaumont Main Street
- Trustee of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church
- Member of the Charlton-Pollard Alumni Association.
Smith was a proud Charlton-Pollard High School graduate. He attended Prairie View A&M and graduated from the HBCU in 1965 with a degree in Industrial Education. Smith joined the U.S. Army after college and was stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana.
In the late 1960s, he worked at what was then the Texas U.S. Chemical Company in Port Neches, becoming the first African American to work in the company’s office.
Smith retired from Ameripol Synpol Corporation after 33 years with the company.
Smith was considered a friend by many. He credited his mother for his many professional and personal successes, saying she taught him the value of “just being nice,” the release says.
Smith’s memory will survive by his beloved wife, LaRue, daughter, and son-in-law, Lesia and Stephen Linton, and three grandchildren, Taylor, Ryan, and Lauryn.
Funeral services are pending.
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