* Shem D. Smith; Retired Shoe Repairman

Shem D. Smith, a former Burbank police commissioner who owned and operated a shoe repair shop, has died at a Burbank hospital. He was 84.

A resident of Burbank, Smith died Jan. 31 of cancer, said his son, Doug Smith.

Born in Warren, Okla., he came to California in 1926 and enrolled at the USC School of Music. In the mid-1930s, he went to work for Zinke’s Shoe Repair Co. in Los Angeles, eventually becoming general manager. In 1949, he and partner Charlie Compton opened C & S Shoe Repair Co., with two shops in Burbank and one in Van Nuys. Smith bought one of the Burbank stores, in the Magnolia Park area, in the early 1950s and renamed it Smith’s Shoe Repair. He ran the business until his retirement in 1979.

Smith helped organize a union for shoe repair workers and served as its secretary during the early 1940s, helped start and was a member of the Shoe Repair Trade Advisory Committee for the California Department of Corrections at the California Institution for Men at Chino, served as exalted ruler of the Burbank Elks Lodge No. 1497 in 1949-50 and was a Burbank police commissioner in the early 1950s.

He is survived by his son, Doug Smith of Westlake Village; daughter Kathleen Cantoni of Burbank; brothers Bill Smith of Glendale, Ralph Smith of Glendora, Hershel Smith of Vista, Calif., Torrey Smith of San Pedro and Jack Smith of Covina; three grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. His wife, Margaret, died in 1987.

A funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Valley Funeral Home, 2121 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, which is handling the arrangements.