Greg Smith Memorial Garden Will Commemorate Professor's Love of Nature and Activism

June Burlingame Smith describes the Greg Smith Memorial Garden as her late husband’s idea, for the Dominguez Hills community to have “a place where they can enjoy quiet contemplation and appreciate nature.”

Greg Smith, a professor of geography at CSU Dominguez Hills from 1968 to 1992, championed environmental causes in his community of San Pedro and throughout Los Angeles County, as an alternate for Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, when she was South Coast region commissioner in the 1970s; a member of the Los Angeles Tree Commission; and founder and longtime president of the Point Fermin Residents Association. In 1991, he encouraged San Pedro residents to plant discarded Christmas trees at Angels Gate Park, resulting in The Greg Smith Conifer Grove, which now contains 300 trees of 13 varieties.

With landscape architects Mia Lehrer and Associates, Smith’s family will commemorate his bond with nature in the Memorial Garden, located at the southwest corner of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Building. Granite stonework symbolize his love of mountain climbing and interest in Celtic design, while an abundance of trees pay tribute to his grandparents who helped establish Eagle Rock, Idaho in the 1860s, bringing 1,000 trees to the barren prairie. Gingko trees recall Greg and June’s days at Reed College in Portland, OR. A bamboo grove, reminiscent of Smith’s trips to China and Japan complements the CSUDH Japanese Garden.

Smith passed on love and respect for nature to his students, many of whom work in conservation-related fields today.

“You don’t immediately know your effect on your students,” says June, an English professor at Harbor College. “Instilling an awareness in them will later trigger an appreciation of their environment they didn’t have before.”

To contribute to the Greg Smith Memorial Garden, contact Greg Saks, associate vice president, University Development at (310) 243-3955.

- Joanie Harmon-Whetmore