The death of Pete Smith

kshapero said:
Since I lived so near him, he was a mentor to me. Always with a smile and ready to do a favor for me. Unfortunately Pete was not a rich man and spent almost all he had on medical costs. I am putting together a fund to help pay bills and will work with his family to sell what parts and inventory that is left. Stay tuned as I set this up.
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Very good, please keep us informed.
 
So sorry to hear about this. I have his old business card here; Peter R. Smith, Fotocamera Repair in Lake Worth. A very nice guy and a great repair man. My condolences to his family.
 
Can't believe this. I have only had perfect transactions with Pete over the years.
RIP Pete. You will be missed.
 
Very sorry about this on three levels: (1) Sad to see a master craftsman go. (2) Wishing I'd had the chance to meet him in person, since he's held in such high esteem. (3) Wondering how his estate will sort out jobs that were on his workbench.
 
Pete Smith

Pete Smith

Pete overhauled a number of cameras and lenses for me. He was always willing to spend a few moments on the phone and talk "shop". He was a master especially for the Nikon F, it was, he told me, his specialty. Pete will be missed.

RIP Pete.


Bob
 
I'd been using my RF lenses mostly, but today I grabbed the 28/2 AI which Pete CLA'd for me in Feb:

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"don't ever sell it", he said, "leave it to me instead" :)

Thank You Pete
 
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digitalintrigue said:
Very good, please keep us informed.
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Been staying touch with Alexis, Pete's son. When things settle down we are going to go over his inventory a create a sale. Stay tuned. Any other ideas?

Still reeling from this. Hard to accept. Pete combined an old world craftsmanship, a kindness and a wonderful impish sense of humor. The many times I spent with him were filled with his stories of adventures in South America in the 60's and 70's. We would often go back thru the shelves to discover some odd part he had misplaced. He would then remember someone who had asked about it years ago. He would contact the customer and sent the part free of charge because he had lost it. I can go on and on, but I do not wish to bore any of you.

the Camera world is less with him gone.
 
His old shop was just down the road from me. A true gentleman. I like telling this story about Pete: I had this old Leica slr lens with some loose parts. I took it in to him to have a look. He messed with for a few minutes, tightening something up or other. After he gave it back to me all fixed up, I said, "How much?" Pete's response was something like "I don't charge for something that was so easy to fix."

And then he was telling me all about Nikon stuff (I was an avowed Leica guy back then). And he had some really nice stuff in the store (cabinets filled with lenses and bodies (mostly Fs). And he tells me there's two cameras in the store he'll never sell. And he pulls two beat up Fs (one black and one silver as I recall). These were the cameras he used when he was a newspaper photographer for many years (one of the local papers down here).

The postscript of the story is that when I finally did get a Nikon F this summer, Pete was having to take time off from work (he was working at the Delray Camera Shop by then). I sent it away for repairs.

His health was bad these last couple of years. I understand his daughter carried on the tradition (a professional photographer down here).

A real decent man.
 
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I live not far from his shop in Delray, and last year he completely overhauled a Nikon F2 for me. He was a pleasure to deal with and a true gentleman.

Joe
 
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