Philip Batterman Smith died on Jan. 29 in Delray Beach, Fla., after a brief illness. He was 80.

Phil was born in New York city on Jan. 5, 1936 to Allen Batterman Smith and Eleanor Irving of Rye, N.Y. He was a resident of Darien, Conn. for 55 years, and a part-time resident of Delray Beach, Fla. and Edgartown.

He was a graduate of the Trinity-Pawling School and Princeton University. He rose through the ranks to Lieut. j.g. in the United States Navy, and received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He had a long career as a banker and in venture capital, starting at Citibank and most recently as a founding member of IQ Venture Advisors. Phil founded Citicorp Venture Capital in 1967 and served at its first president and chief executive officer until 1972. He later continued his career at Irving Trust Bank as an executive vice president and group executive of the World Wide Corporate Group. Subsequently, he became founding partner of Lawrence Venture Associates and Arete Ventures, the management company of Utech Venture. He was also a managing director of the merchant banking group of Prudential Securities and vice chairman and co-founder of Spencer Trask Securities.

Phil served on numerous boards of directors. He trained a generation of venture capitalists, including some of the most successful investors of their time, while working at Citicorp Venture and also as an adjunct professor teaching a venture capital course at the Columbia University graduate school of business.

Living in Darien for 55 years, Phil devoted many hours of his spare time to his community, serving as a representative town meeting member, teaching at St. Luke’s Parish church school, mentoring inner city youth, and recently serving as one of the first board members of the Darien Firemen Foundation.

He was also a member of Wee Burn Country Club, Racquet and Tennis Club, Edgartown Yacht Club, Edgartown Reading Room, Edgartown Golf Club, The Little Club, Manalapan Yacht Club, and the Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club.

Phil was known by his family and many friends as The Captain. His family was his first priority, especially his devotion to his loving wife Linda and his daughters and their families. He recently celebrated his 80th birthday sailing in the Caribbean with his entire family. He was an avid athlete, and one by one, he taught each child and grandchild and many of their friends how to sail, fish, golf, ski, skate, play touch football and master chess. His first love was the water, and his happiest moments were spent racing his Shields or fishing for blues off Martha’s Vineyard. His stories were long, and his advice never ending, a true friend and mentor to so many. One close friend wrote, “if you were lucky enough to meet and know Phil, you were lucky enough.”

Phil is survived by his wife of 55 years, Linda May Smith, and his three daughters: Susan Smith Pettenati and her husband John of Ridgewood, N.J.; Elizabeth Smith Klein and her husband Michael of Darien, Conn.; and Alice Smith Clark and her husband Jonathon of New Canaan, Conn.; and his son in law, Kenneth A. Southworth. He was predeceased by his daughter Eleanor Smith Southworth. He is also survived by his 10 grandchildren: Jack, Michael and Luke Pettenati; Molly, Larsen, and Grace Klein; Caroline and Jack Clark; and Katherine and Alden Southworth, and many more relatives including his two nieces, Marjorie Roney of Darien, Conn. and Dorothy Holt of Cumberland Foreside, Me. and their families, and his cousin William H. Morton of Vero Beach, Fla.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in his honor to Trinity-Pawling School Scholarship Fund, care of headmaster William W. Taylor, 700 Route 22, Pawling, N.Y., 12564.

A service of remembrance will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Conn.