Dr. Robert Smith Jordan (Bob), 92, died peacefully of heart disease at his Parklane home in SLC, Utah, on 4/29/22, with wife, Jane, at his side. Md. 9/19/61 in the Los Angeles LDS Temple. Born 6/11/29 in Los Angeles to Mary Wright Smith (Logan, UT) and Ralph Burdette Jordan.
Bob inherited a love of words, learning, and local/world events from his parents. Began his academic career at UCLA; pursued Master’s degree from the Univ. of Utah, also Asst. to the Academic VP; earned PhD at Princeton, later Pres. of the Assoc. of Graduate Alumni; and received DPhil from Oxford where he was Fulbright Scholar at St. Antony’s College.
Dr. Jordan was a respected authority on U.S. national security policy, intl. orgs, and military biography. Was admin./beloved professor at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, George Washington Univ., Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone, SUNY Binghamton, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Univ. of South Carolina (Dag Hammarskjold Visiting Professor), the Univ. of New Orleans (Dean of the Graduate School), the Army, Naval and Air War Colleges, the Univ. of Lancaster (UK) as Fulbright Professor, and more. Authored twenty+ books and numerous articles, active in many professional orgs., and enjoyed time at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC and Alta Club in SLC, among others. Received many career-related honors and awards.
Bob loved flower gardens, the symphony, baseball games and tennis, and newspapers – esp., The New York Times which he read religiously. Appreciated his Mormon pioneer heritage, and relationships with posterity, incl. many nieces and nephews. Maintained life-long friendships from Air Force days where he was an officer and earned a Bronze Star Medal; with Sigma Chi Fraternity brothers (Life Loyal Sig); and from activity in the LDS Church.
Preceded in death by his four siblings, incl. twin brother, Dr. William Smith Jordan of SLC, UT, and many peers. Survived by wife, Jane; children Sara, Rebecca (Byron), Bob, and David; grandchildren Tiffany, Emily, Benjamin, Nathan, Hannah, Caleb, Miles, and Nova; great-grandchildren Olivia, Kingston, Edith, Harper, Poet, Uriah, and Eliza; and other family members, friends and former students.
A celebration of life will be held at the University of Utah Alumni House on 6/11/22 (his 93rd b’day). For more info., contact Jane. He will later be interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the scholarship fund of the Smith Family Organization – smithfamilyorganization.org.
Sara & Family:
So sorry to read of your father’s passing. We send our love & sympathies to all of you. Know you’re in our thoughts & prayers.
Steve, Karma, Craig,& Jim
Sending our love and condolences to you Jane and Sara and all the family. I regret that I did not get to know him in mortality. He has had such a successful career and was an exceptionally able and productive man. God bless all the family and friends who know and love him. Gary
I was a student of his at the University of New Orleans. Greatly admired and respected him. My deepest condolences.
I was very lucky to have studied international politics and foreign policy under Dr. Robert S. Jordan from 1987-90 at University of New Orleans as well as to know him personally when we lived in Covington from 1998-2002. Bob was a profound influence on my course of study as well as my career path in life. I shall remember him fondly and miss him greatly.
Dr Jordan was a professor of mine at the University of New Orleans. I greatly enjoyed his classes and talks we had. He was also a reason I pursued a double major in Political Science and took part in the Model United Nations forum. As a graduate student, I assisted with research on his book on General Lauris Norstad. Dr. Jordan will always be a remembered by me as a kind and influential mentor during my days at the University of New Orleans. I was sorry to hear news of his passing.
