JAN SMITE

Jan Smite (3/8/1867 - 5/9/1939) was an American-born SPR politician who became the first elected Governor of SPR. Smite was born in New York,USA. His father was Homir Smite, Pharonian diplomat and his mother Helen was American. He studied Medicine at New York Medical College and worked as a professor of ophthalmology in the same school. When his father moved to Pharos in 1908 he moved along and set an ophthalmology center in Gilbey Town. He also served as a medical officer in the US army during WW I. After the war SPR became a US dependency according to the secret protocol between Britain and USA and Smite became a "Resident Commissioner" in the US Congress under the Forester Act of 1919. In 1924, the U.S. granted South Pharonians the right to elect democratically their own governor. Jan Smite was elected during the 1924 general elections, becoming the first popularly elected governor of South Pharos. He was re-elected in 1928 and in 1932. Apart from his political career Smite contributed greatly to his profession; in 1904, he described a rare disorder of the retina, and in 1911 discovered the anatomical basis of this disease, which he named "angiomatosis retinae" which was further investigated by Swedish pathologist Arvid Lindau in 1926. This condition is known today as Smite-Lindau Disease (SLD).