Lawrence Leighton Smith, an American conductor and pianist, was born April 8, 1936 in Portland, Oregon and died on October 25, 2013 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He studied piano with Ariel Rubstein in Portland and Leonard Shure in New York. He earned bachelor's degrees from Portland State University in 1956 and Mannes College of Music in 1959. He also earned a doctorate from the University of Louisville in 1992.