He taught optics courses for the University of Wisconsin, SPIE, OSA, and various companies and government agencies at worldwide locations.
"Warren was a mentor who always listened, and was always very supportive," said Max Riedl, who worked with Smith at Infrared Industries in Santa Barbara, CA.
Born on 17 August 1922, Smith graduated from Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.
After 1987, Warren Smith was the chief scientist at Kaiser Electro Optics in Carlsbad, California working part-time at the end of his career due to the demands of consulting, teaching, and expert witnessing, and writing the 3rd edition of his book Modern Optical Engineering.
He was survived by his wife Mary Helen Smith (they married in 1944) and their two grown children David and Barbara.