Charles Terrence Smith of Mattapoisett, MA passed away on December 23, 2025 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 82 years old.
Born on May 25, 1943 in Buffalo, NY, Charlie was the child of Charles and Anne Smith. He grew up as the second of five brothers and with a flock of neighbors in Newton, MA. Charlie attended secondary school at St. Sebastian’s and received his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Notre Dame. He returned to Boston to obtain his MBA from Harvard Business School.
After a post-grad year in Bermuda, Charlie worked in New York City as an investment banker and then CFO of Video Corporation of America. Ultimately, Charlie left the corporate world and started his own company in 1995, DataLath LLC, which brought him independence and immense pride.
Charlie (affectionately nicknamed “Terry” or “Doc”) met his wife, Eleanor Katherine Tanis, at the wedding of his brother, Tom, and Ellie’s roommate, Nancy. During their 56 years of marriage, Charlie and Ellie took advantage of all that Manhattan had to offer while living as newlyweds, raised their daughters, Anne and Laura, in suburban Wyckoff, NJ and Darien, CT, and enjoyed their retirement in Mattapoisett, MA.
Sailing was Charlie’s favorite pass-time, and he loved to share it with family and friends. It was on the waters of Long Island Sound that he first discovered his passion for racing aboard his beloved Ensign Fred at Noroton Yacht Club. In Mattapoisett, he spent Wednesday nights racing his Cape Dory the Chickadee with a loyal crew at the Mattapoisett Yacht Club. He loved cruising with family and friends, exploring Buzzards Bay and the New England coastline on the weekends.
Active in retirement, he and Ellie traveled to Arizona and Florida every winter, enjoyed bike riding, kayaking, and walking around Point Connett, and cheered on Notre Dame in football and women’s basketball. Charlie also rowed whale boats with the Gray Buzzards in New Bedford and volunteered for the Yacht Club, Damien’s Food Pantry, and the Mattapoisett Land Trust. In 2020, Charlie reestablished longtime friendships with his school friends via weekly Zoom chats which continue to this day. Charlie was known for his quiet wisdom, wry sense of humor, kindness, and patience. He was a caring neighbor and a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Charlie is survived by his wife Eleanor, his daughters and sons-in-law, Anne and Colin White and Laura and Ben Forssell, his grandchildren Reid, Maeve, and Kylie, Henry and wife Brittany, Iva, Kira, and Duncan, his great-grandchildren Weston and Thomas, and his brothers Tom, Steve, Richard and Jeff and their families.
We invite friends and family to join us for a Celebration of Life on Saturday, January 24 at 11AM at St. Gabriel's Church in Marion, MA, with a reception to follow at the Inn on Shipyard Park in Mattapoisett.
A livestream of the service is available for anyone not able to attend: https://www.youtube.com/@StGabrielsChurchMarion/streams
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made in Charlie’s memory to Damien’s Food Pantry in Wareham.