Peter Henry Smolka, of Alexandria, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1919. He was a third-generation patent attorney, a linguist who knew seven languages, and man of broad interests.
He studied chemistry consecutively at the Charles University in Prague, the University of Geneva, Trinity College in Dublin, and in 1942 earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his law degree at Rutgers University. After four years of research related to the Manhattan Project during WW II, he worked for 15 years in the patent and licensing departments of what is now the ExxonMobil Corporation. Finally, in 1961 he became a partner in the patent law firm of Burns, Doane, Swecker and Mathis (now Buchanan, Ingersoll, & Rooney) in Washington, D.C. and Alexandria where he practiced law until his retirement in his 80s.
He was fond of family, friends, travel, books and art. His wife of 67 years, Marjorie Timmins Smolka, predeceased him in 2011. He is survived by daughters Alice Close, Beatrice Russell, Gerry Smolka, and Ellen Smolka as well as nine grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.