Death
In December 2005 Alec travelled to Norway with his wife Elisabeth in order to join her relatives for Christmas. On 19 January 2006, the couple started the journey back to Zimbabwe via London. While in the transit lounge at Heathrow airport, Alec suddenly suffered a heart attack - and died almost instantly. He had previously been in good health. His body was later returned to Norway for cremation while a memorial service was held at the Anglican cathedral in Harare.
The family deputed Inger (Alec and Elisabeth's eldest daughter) to break the news to his father. The latter had suffered a fall the previous year and had been obliged to live with his widowed stepdaughter, Jean Tholet, in Cape Town. Ian Smith was reported to have been devastated by the news and not to have recovered from it either mentally or physically.
Alec Smith was described (by someone who knew him later in his life) as follows :
... a pale, slow-walking, slow-talking man with watery eyes and a gentle sense of humour. There was nothing overtly animated about him. He was a will- o'-the-wisp: you never knew quite where he'd come from or where he was going. Rebecca de Saintonge, The Independent, 2 February 2006
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