Alachua Chamber of Commerce founder and influential local banker, Jerry Malcolm Smith, died on Monday at the age of 86.  

The Chamber posted about the loss on Facebook, calling Smith a true champion for the community. A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. on July 10 at First Baptist Church of Alachua (14005 NW 146 Ave.), where Smith served as a deacon. 

In addition to founding the Chamber in 1976, Smith served as chair of the city’s planning and zoning board and oversaw First National Bank of Alachua until it sold to Capital City Bank Group in 2005. 

Formerly headquartered on NW 140th Street, the bank grew into nine offices with four in Gainesville and reached over $200 million in holdings, according to a 2002 Gainesville Sun article. 

Chamber president Shelley Vickers said she’d been a friend of Smith’s for over two decades. She described him as quiet but powerful, tall, sincere, honest, a Diet Coke sipper and avid golfer as a Turkey Creek resident. 

Vickers said Smith’s health had been declining since the start of the year. In January, the Chamber honored him with a legacy award at its annual gala, but Smith wasn’t able to make it because he’d broken his hip. 

Not long after that, Vickers said he hurt his shoulder and was eventually hospitalized for other issues that cropped up, until the hospice was called. 

“He was more than when he was a banker. He was a businessman, but he was a builder of community, and he supported so many different organizations within the city of Alachua,” Vickers said. “His leadership and generosity and commitment to serving the city of Alachua is just amazing. They just don’t make people like that anymore.” 

Vickers said the Chamber is working with the city to name NW 150th Avenue in honor of Smith, as the road borders his bank. They also want to dedicate Jerry Smith Day on Aug. 24, the Chamber’s 50th anniversary. 

The 38th Alachua Chamber Sports Fest, slated on June 20, will be called the Jerry Smith Sports Fest.