David Brian Smith was born in Tulsa, OK on October 17, 1962. He passed away on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022 from complications of a recently diagnosed heart problem.

He graduated from Glendale High School in Springfield, MO where he was the starting left guard on the Glendale football team for two years.

David earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Southwest Missouri State University and continued on to earn a law degree from the University of Tulsa law School.

Upon receiving his law degree, David worked in private practice focusing on criminal defense law. He operated his own law office for several years. In 2005 David joined the State of Missouri Public Defender system, where he worked until his passing.

David was an avid college football fan and for years attended most of the University of Tulsa’s home football games. David and his uncle Don Hayden (deceased 2022) traveled to many of Tulsa’s away games and Bowl games when TU was fortunate enough to be invited.

David is survived by his parents Josephine (Jo) Martin and Rodney Smith, both of Springfield, his sister Susan Carll and her husband Chris, Oceanside, CA, nieces Michelle Carll (CA) and Jenny Wakefield (FL), his aunt Jane Hayden (Tulsa) and his significant other Indianda Young and her daughter, Loyalty Young. David was never blessed with children but loved Loyalty very much.

David was a caring, compassionate person who took his job to defend his clients very seriously and spent many long hours and weekends working on their cases. He followed Jesus’ teachings about loving God and his fellow man and treated everyone with the respect due to them as a valued human being.

David was deeply loved by his family and will be sorely missed.

A Celebration of Life memorial will be held at Greenlawn South on Friday, March 17, 2023 at 2:00pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri.