RICHARD D. SMITH Sept. 4, 1955 – Aug. 4, 2025
Former Los Alamos National Laboratory staff member Richard Daniel (Rick) Smith passed away August 4, 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda, where he was living under the care of his son, Nathan Anderith. A physicist, physical oceanographer, a rock climber, and a loving father, he will be remembered for his brilliant mind and love of the outdoors.
Rick was born September 4, 1955 in Albuquerque to Robert D. and Dixie Rogers Smith. He attended schools in Los Alamos, Albuquerque, and Greenwood Village, CO, then earned his BA at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD in 1977 and his PhD in Nuclear Theory from the University of Maryland in 1984.
He was married to Lea Susan Anderegg of Alexandria, VA 1982-1996, and Nathan was born in 1984.
After a post-doctoral time in Livermore, California, he became a LANL staff member. He and a team there, including John Dukowicz, Bob Malone, Matthew Hecht, Peter Gent of NOAA, Jim McWilliams of UCLA, and others, developed the first complete digital model of the Earth’s oceans, which has been used by climate scientists worldwide. A twelve-minute presentation he created about the model can be viewed on YouTube as “Ocean Model Talk Final Version.”
His career was tragically ended by a traffic accident and traumatic brain injury in 2004, after which he lived in northern Santa Fe County, then in assisted living in Santa Fe and Greenville, SC, near his father. He moved to Ethiopia with Nathan in 2019 and Rwanda in 2023. He contracted malaria there in 2024 and suffered severe after effects that eventually ended his life.
Rick was an avid rock climber in Los Alamos and across the Southwest. He was well-known in the climbing community for setting entirely new climbs and being the first to ascend them. He and his son spent many years hiking, biking, and climbing around the Southwest.
He is survived by his father, brother Mike, son Nathan, daughter-in-law Lauren, grandchildren Gilroy and Autumn, and step-sisters Leslie Woods, Kim Gallo, and Gail Stevenson.
Online memorials for family and friends are to be scheduled. To be notified, email BobSmith864@gmail.com.