Sydney Strother Smith Jr. understood the need for safety.

During his career as an insurance agent, Mr. Smith often worked closely with the families of people who died in vehicle crashes, seeing firsthand "the destruction it causes within families," said his son, the Rev. Sydney Strother Smith III of Abingdon.

The elder Smith founded the Richmond Area Youth Safety Council and served on the boards of other safety committees to help protect Virginia residents.

Mr. Smith, who retired from the insurance industry in the 1970s, died Thursday of cancer at his Goochland County home. He was 94.

A native of Richmond and an avid duck and goose hunter, Mr. Smith graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1937 and joined the staff of Travelers Insurance Co. in the life, accident and group-insurance department in 1938.

He served in the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Division during World War II, seeing action in Europe.

Throughout his life, Mr. Smith was heavily involved in politics. In 1963, he and Louis S. Herrink Jr. were the first two Republicans elected to the House of Delegates from the Richmond area since Reconstruction.

After his two-year term was up, Mr. Smith lost his re-election campaign. However, he remained active in politics, eventually serving as aide-de-camp to then-Gov. Linwood Holton.

"He was a very loyal Republican and one of the pioneers . . . who helped build the party," Holton said yesterday .

After he moved to Goochland County in 1973 following a massive heart attack, Mr. Smith served as chairman of the Goochland County Republican Committee for eight years.

Mr. Smith and his wife, Elizabeth Peele Oglesby Smith, influenced their children to "have a great deal of interest in what is going on around us," said their daughter, the Rev. Caroline Smith Parkinson of The Plains.

During his career, Mr. Smith served on the boards for the Governor's Highway Safety Committee, the Richmond Area Safety Council, the Virginia Boating Advisory Committee and the Virginia Highway Safety Commission.

Mr. Smith was preceded in death by his wife.

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Smith's survivors include another son, Richard Hewlett Smith II of Alexandria; seven grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at St. James's Episcopal Church, 1205 W. Franklin St. in Richmond. Burial will be in Hollywood Cemetery.