Jack Reginald Smith, PhD, P.E., the founder of Neurotronics Incorporated and pioneer of automated sleep analysis, passed away on June 11, 2009 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida.  He was 73 years old.

Dr. Smith was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Florida for 30 years and an entrepreneur, founding two companies that developed software for automated sleep analysis.  Born on June 16, 1935, in North Dakota, he was the son of Henry R. Smith and Laura Kornkven.  He spent his youth in Minnesota and moved to Los Angeles in his teens.  He attended Menlo College prior to enlisting in the army in 1953.  He was honorably discharged and completed his BS, MS, and PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Southern California. 

After working in both the space and military industries, Dr. Smith joined the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Florida as an assistant professor in 1964, electing to work in the biomedical engineering field.   At the university Dr. Smith worked with Dr. Wilse Webb and Dr. Ismet Karajan to develop quantitative techniques for sleep analysis.  He also worked with UCLA's Space Biology laboratory and spent the academic year 1970-71 in Cassis, France, collaborating with researchers at the University of Marseille.  Dr. Smith spent two more academic sabbaticals helping develop sleep instrumentation: in 1978 with the late Jean-Michel Gaillard at the Medical School of Geneva, Switzerland, and in 1985 with Japanese colleagues at the Tokyo Metropolitan Research Institute.  His textbook, Modern Communication Circuits, is in its second edition and is still widely used.  In 1986, Dr. Smith started Microtronics, Inc., developing the first digital sleep analyzing computer.  He sold Microtronics to Oxford Medical in 1990.  After the sale of Microtronics, he returned to the University of Florida until he retired as professor emeritus in 1994.  He also served as a consultant to Motorola in Plantation, Florida, during his last academic year.  After his retirement from the university, he developed the first 32-bit sleep analyzing system, Polysmith, with his company Neurotronics.  Neurotronics was sold to Nihon Kohden Corporation in December 2008.  Dr. Smith remained as Founder and Consultant of Neurotronics, Inc.

He leaves his wife of 23 years, Eileen McCarthy Smith; a son, Kirk Russell Smith and his wife Paula of Gainesville; three daughters, Karla Smith of Dallas, Texas; Dari Smith and her husband Sergio Quintana of Gainesville; and Staci Shanahan and her husband James of Miami; a step-daughter, Katie Marousis and her husband, Constantine of Sarasota; and a step-son, Brendan McCarthy and his wife, Mary Ellen of High Springs.  He is also survived by eleven grandchildren: Lance and Jackson Smith; Laura, Muriel, Grace, Emilio, and Isabella Quintana; Haley, Hunter, Jack, and Addison Shanahan; and three step-grandchildren: Ellie and Danny Marousis and Connor McCarthy. 

A service of celebration and remembrance will be held at the Smith's lake home at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 27th, with Dr. Harold Henderson presiding.  For directions, please call Milam Funeral Home (352-376-5361).  In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to Habitat for Humanity, 121 Habitat Street, PO Box 6439, Americus, Georgia; The Salvation Army, PO Box 270848, Tampa, Florida; the Harn Museum, University of Florida Foundation, P.O. Box 14425, Gainesville, FL 32604, or a charity of your choice. Milam Funeral and Cremation Services, (352) 376-5361.