Robert John Smith (1927–2016) was an American anthropologist who taught at Cornell University, specializing in the anthropology of Japan.
In 1974, he was named Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology.
[1] The Japanese government bestowed the Order of the Rising Sun on him in 1993.
[2] Smith left college in 1944 to join the United States Army, where he began the study of the Japanese language.
He finished his PhD in 1955, and joined the Department of Anthropology, where he taught until retirement.