Richard Smith; Built Broadmoor Homes
Richard B. Smith, a developer and builder who founded Broadmoor Homes and earned several awards for his civic activities, has died. He was 76.
Smith, who sold Broadmoor to Genstar in 1973 and retired in 1981, died Saturday in Newport Beach, where he had lived for 20 years.
After founding Broadmoor in the late 1950s, Smith built more than 6,000 homes throughout Southern California, including planned communities such as Broadmoor Turtle Rock next to UC Irvine. Combining custom and “cookie-cutter” building formulas, he developed similar high-quality housing projects in Tustin, Chino, Newport Beach, San Clemente, La Jolla and San Diego.
Smith was named builder of the year in 1978 by the Construction Industry Alliance for the City of Hope, a support organization for the cancer research and treatment facility.
A year later he earned the national builder of the year award of the Professional Builder magazine, and in 1983 he was inducted into the Home Builders Hall of Fame.
Smith was vice president of the Building Industry Assn. of California and president of its Orange County chapter, a director of the California Builders Council and a founder and director of Californians for an Environment of Excellence, Full Employment and a Strong Economy Through Planned Development, known as CEEED.
In 1963, Smith was elected to the Tustin Elementary School Board of Trustees and later served as its president. He also was active on the Tustin Planning Commission. In recent years, he served on the board of the Defense Orientation Conference Assn.
For many years, Smith was president and a director of the Orange County Council of Boy Scouts of America.
Born in Seattle, he grew up in Southern California and attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire before interrupting his education to serve in the Naval Air Corps during World War II. He later earned his degree from the University of Washington.
Although his father, Warren T. Smith, had been a pioneer residential builder in Westwood, Smith started out as a salesman--of cars. He went on to sell homes in Long Beach and then worked for developer Everett Davis & Sons in Corona del Mar before becoming a developer himself.
Smith is survived by his wife, Betty Jane; two daughters, Susan Neptune and Becky Walla; a stepson, Dennis Hughes; and six grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at Pacific View Memorial Chapel in Newport Beach.
