02/06/2025
Sadly, Ed Smyk has passed away. We owe so much of the preservation of our history to Ed. He was an Honorary Life Time Trustee of the Passaic County Historical Society.
This article was put out by the Paterson Museum:
Edward A. Smyk was born, raised and educated in the Paterson public schools. While in high school, he stumbled across a collection of glass plate negatives detailing the construction of Paterson’s hydroelectric and steam plants at the Passaic Falls. The discovery brought him to the attention of the Passaic County Historical Society, which he joined the Society in 1962, and has served ever since in various capacities, including second Vice-President, Historian, and chair of the publications committee and other panels. He was elected an Honorary Life Trustee of the Society in June 1994. Mr. Smyk holds degrees in political science and sociology from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rutherford, New Jersey, where he was a Dean’s and Honors List student. In 1968, he received the social science faculty award “for excellence and writing ability in the social sciences.” He served as associate editor of the undergraduate social science quarterly.
Mr. Smyk has been affiliated with Passaic County government since November 1970. He became Public Information Officer for the county’s social service agency, retiring in 2004. In that capacity, he was responsible for the agency’s public information program, including the production of inhouse publications, newsletters, the annual guide to agency services, and liaison with the print and electronic media. He also served as a job developer for improving the lives of low income people, and in in his spare time, researched and wrote the agency’s administrative history. In tandem with his work, Mr. Smyk was appointed the Passaic County Historian by the Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1975. In the last four plus decades, he has published more than 150 articles on county history, some of which were re-edited and published in book form, Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History (2004). Mr. Smyk served as a columnist for the North Jersey Herald News, writing a popular series titled Tales of Our Heritage. In August 1997, he authored a 48-page commemorative history of the newspaper and its predecessor publications. He has an unquenchable zeal for researching and writing historical essays, taking immense pride in bringing together historic images and the written word for the express purpose of arousing interest in the heritage of Paterson and Passaic County.
Mr. Smyk has played a significant role in the preservation of historic Lambert Castle, once the exclusive residence of Catholina Lambert, one of Paterson’s more famed silk manufacturers; the Dey Mansion, General George Washington’s military field headquarters for three months in 1780 and the Passaic County Courthouse, and adjacent Northern Mannerist, Flemish-style annex building. In recognition of his efforts, Mr. Smyk has received historic preservation awards from the State of New Jersey and Paterson’s Historic Preservation Commission. In March 2001, he provided testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands for placing the Great falls Historic District under the aegis of the National Park Service.
Mr. Smyk has been keenly interested in preserving historic documents and images for research purposes. In December 1985, he negotiated the transfer of 889 documents and plans generated by John Philip Holland (1841-1914), inventor of the first practical submarine, to the Paterson Museum. The documents, comprising 5,000 pages, were collected by Edward M. Graf (1896-1982), local historian and author. They were donated to the museum by the historian’s daughter, Ruth Graf Staudinger (1920-1999) in memory of her father’s achievements. Two years later, Mr. Smyk was responsible in obtaining for the Paterson Museum the Paterson News’ central photographic archive of approximately 150,000 negatives, in short, the newspaper photo legacy of Paterson and nearby municipalities. North Jersey Newspapers, Inc., the donor, was pleased that the archive had found a proper depository. In October 2008, he was the chief negotiator on transferring a large collection of original documents detailing the business and philanthropic activities of Peter Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt, iron manufacturers, from the Passaic County Historical Society to Cooper Union in New York. The collection had lain dormant and mostly unseen at the historical society for decades. In the words of Cooper Union Library Director Ulla Volk, “The research you took on to find out how these papers came into the possession of the Historical Society was true detective work and your quest to establish who should have the legal rights to the collection was exemplary.” Mr. Smyk was also responsible for negotiating the transfer from North Jersey Newspapers, Inc., to the Paterson Museum. the Paterson News’ central photographic archive of approximately 100,000 negatives.
Mr. Smyk was awarded, in 1987, the Local Historians’ Award of Distinction, conferred by the New Jersey Historical Commission, New Jersey Historical Society and League of Historical Societies of New Jersey, “for outstanding contributions to New Jersey History.” The City of Paterson, through Mayor William J. Pascrell II, proclaimed Edward A. Smyk Day, 24 March 1995, “for twenty years of productive and exemplary service to community, county and state.” He has served as a trustee for the Great Falls Preservation and Development Corporation, a member of the Board of Governors and Historian for The Hamilton Club of Paterson, and Secretary for the Passaic County Bicentennial Commission. He has received awards from the Passaic County Freeholders (now County Commissioners), the Canal Society of New Jersey, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Grand Jurors’ Association of Passaic County.
In May 2009, Mr. Smyk was awarded a “certificate of profound appreciation” by the county historical society. The citation summarizes what continually replenishes his abiding interest, a “unique and devoted passion to history, to the history of Passaic County, and to the Passaic County Historical Society that began in his youth, and has continued throughout his life -- the fruits of his thorough and expansive research, and a wisdom he has willingly shared, to promote the aims of the Society as Trustee, Honorary Life Trustee and as County Historian.”
