Roger S. Smith has been an artist for over 50 years. He gained a love for art under his high school art teacher, Gerald Landt. This is where Roger grew to love watercolor painting. During his junior year of high school, Roger met Gerhard Miller, a master artist, who quickly became Roger's mentor. Roger would visit Miller once a year in Door County where the artist lived. During his visits, Miller would spend up to three hours critiquing Roger's work while also teaching him a variety of techniques.

Gerhard Miller taught Roger valuable lessons like how to use more color in his paintings. The most important lesson Roger learned from Miller was how to use "the three values" in a drawing: light tones or white paper, gray tones, and black tones. All three of these values need to be distributed throughout a drawing in order to create a composition. Another extremely important lesson was learning how to create light and focus - a skill that remains an ongoing learning process, developed through years of drawing and painting.

Roger has always connected his art with his religious beliefs, stating, "Ever since I was a little boy, I loved God's creation. I loved being out in nature enjoying the awesome beauty of His creation. Painting realistic landscapes and barns draws me near to God. I sense His presence when I paint. Creating drawings and paintings gives me real joy."

In 2018, Roger retired from the A.O. Smith Corporation after 32 years. He is very active in the Milwaukee community serving on four boards, including the Zoological Society, Discovery World, Midwest Bible College, and A.O. Smith Foundation. Roger has been a Loaned Executive for United Way four times and is also an active member of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee.

Roger is a fifth-generation descendant of the Smith family of the A.O. Smith Corporation. His grandparents, L.R. and Agnes Smith built and lived at Villa Terrace. He has been married 39 years to his lovely wife, Judy. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.