Heir worked on family’s famed Big Island ranch

Antony "Tony" Parker Smart, a retired stock broker and the last member of the Richard Smart family to have worked on Parker Ranch, died Tuesday at his home in Honolulu. He was 69.

Smart was born Aug. 8, 1937, in Beverly Hills, Calif., to ranch owner Richard Kaleioku Smart and San Francisco actress and socialite Patricia Havens Monteagle.

Richard Smart was a sixth-generation owner of the ranch founded in 1847 by New England sailor John Palmer Parker. At one time more than 200,000 acres in extent, it was often described as one of the largest ranches in the United States under a single owner.

Richard Smart's family moved to Honolulu in 1940, but returned to California after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tony Smart's mother enrolled him in dance and piano lessons and introduced him to caviar at age 7, said family biographer Keawe Vredenburg. He maintained a lifelong taste for it, but preferred the cheaper varieties, Vredenburg said.

After his parents' divorce in 1944, Smart grew up on Long Island, but spent his summers at the ranch roping and branding like other cowboys.

He was honored by the ranch in 2005, when current ranch Chief Executive Officer Chris Kanazawa remarked Smart had fond memories of those days. "He even recalls falling asleep on his horse one time on the way to Kawaihae, but thankfully he was gently awakened by an old timer before he fell off his horse," Kanazawa said.

Educated in agricultural economics at the University of Vermont and marketing and real estate at San Jose State, Smart worked many years on the family ranch, as did his only sibling, brother Gilliard.

"Tony reinforced thoroughbred (horse) introduction and breeding programs, sometimes at odds with ranch managers," Vredenburg said.

In his middle years, he switched careers, becoming a stockbroker at E.F. Hutton before retiring after 11 years.

His early piano lessons blossomed in later life into jazz performances. Other interests included painting, studying Spanish, and real estate.

Smart's father died in 1992, leaving the ranch for federal tax reasons to a trust rather than to his sons. The trust benefits North Hawaii Community Hospital, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Hawaii Community Foundation, and Parker School. Smart maintained contacts with the ranch center at Waimea and served as a director of the school.

"Tony matched his father's love for the employees of the ranch, never losing touch with the families of Old Waimea," said veterinarian and ranch historian Dr. Billy Bergin.

Smart's brother died in 1999.

Divorced in 1975 from the former Diana Lee Damon, he is survived by daughter Stefanie Lee Havens Smart, son Parker Damon Smart, and niece Willow Parker Smart.

Family services will be announced later.