Mark Edward Smith

Mark Edward Smith, 62, born on September 15, 1955, in Fairborn, Ohio, passed away on April 26, 2018. He resided in Burbank, California at the time of his passing.

The son of Margaret Elizabeth "Liz" Collins Smith and Joseph Richard Smith, he was raised in the upstate New York area. After graduating from Monroe-Woodbury High School in 1973, Mark attended State University College of New York at Buffalo, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He majored in Art and studied Ceramics, Photography and Printmaking. During college, Mark's ceramics was shown at a One-Man show in Upton Gallery during the Fall of 1976. After graduation, he moved to Southern California in 1978. Mark worked for a small Burbank photo laboratory called Photographic Illustration Company, or PIC, for over 20 years. He started in the Quantity B&W Photo Dept., transferred to the color Transparency Dept., and eventually was the Production Manager for the entire lab. This turned into an 11-year career with Glendale Community College as a Photography Senior Instructional Lab Technician, where he used his extensive experience with a wide variety of camera equipment and shared his knowledge of darkroom and photographic techniques on an advanced, professional level with the students.

Mark met Fay at PIC and they were married in 1994.

Mark enjoyed restoring his 1961 Volkswagen Beetle and was a lifelong enthusiast of vintage Volkswagens. He always attended the Golden Gate Chapter (GGC) of the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Solvang VW Veteranentreffen car shows since the first biennial meet held in 1990 at Nojoqui Falls, and the VW Classics car shows when they were annually held in Irvine.

Mark is survived by his wife of 23 years, Fay Smith of Burbank, CA; his son, Troy Briggs of Van Nuys, CA; his mother, Margaret Smith of Ocala, FL; 3 sisters: Barbara Smith-Brown and her husband, Steve of Millburn, NJ, Linda Siebuhr of Rock Hill, SC, and Debbie Alton and her husband, Todd of Hubbardsville, NY; and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. He is predeceased by his father, Joseph Smith and his sister, Patricia Beuerman.

Services to be held on Monday, May 7, 2018, 9:30 AM at the Church of the Hills, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California.