The son of V. Marie Stephens and A. J. Smith, Jr., he received his B.A. from Baylor University in 1959, his M.A. from Tulane University in 1962, his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1971, and spent most of his career teaching Spanish at North Carolina State University. His principal research area was eighteenth- and nineteenth-century peninsular Spanish literature. At the time of his death he was working on a book on Perez Galdos. In addition to his scholarship and his traditional classroom teaching, he taught Spanish for North Carolina public television. His hobbies included collecting first editions, with emphasis on English and American fiction published in 1937.
The son of V. Marie Stephens and A. J. Smith, Jr., he received his B.A. from Baylor University in 1959, his M.A. from Tulane University in 1962, his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1971, and spent most of his career teaching Spanish at North Carolina State University. His principal research area was eighteenth- and nineteenth-century peninsular Spanish literature. At the time of his death he was working on a book on Perez Galdos. In addition to his scholarship and his traditional classroom teaching, he taught Spanish for North Carolina public television. His hobbies included collecting first editions, with emphasis on English and American fiction published in 1937.
