Shelley Smith, an actress and former model, has died at age 70.
Smith died at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital after going into cardiac arrest a couple of days earlier, according to her husband, actor Michael Maguire.
Her health had been deteriorating for the past year, Maguire said in a video he shared on Facebook following her death.
“My dear, sweet angel [Shelley] Smith passed peacefully yesterday at 2:20 p.m.,” he wrote in the caption. “Her children, Nicky and Miranda Nathan and I were at her side and holding her hand and kissing her head and singing to her and telling her how much we loved her.”
“Shelley lived an incredible life!” Maguire wrote. “We are all heartbroken, but we are also so fortunate to have been touched by this beautiful, intelligent, compassionate and incredible soul. Life is so short. Make every second count and fill every second with love.”
Born in Princeton, New Jersey on Oct. 25, 1952, Smith went on to graduate from Connecticut College in 1969.
Smith made a name for herself as a model in the 1970s, appearing in magazines like Vogue, Mademoiselle and Glamour, and gracing the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, according to Variety.
In 1979, she pivoted to a career in acting, notably appearing on Martin Short-led sitcom The Associates. Despite its short 13-episode run — it was canceled after a year — the series earned nods at both the Golden Globes and Primetime Emmy Awards.
Smith also nabbed a lead role on military drama For Love and Honor, which aired from 1983 to 1984. For the rest of the decade, she appeared sporadically on shows including Simon & Simon, Fantasy Island, Magnum, P.I. and The Love Boat.
The actress also frequented — or, in her husband’s words, “somehow managed to get on” — several iconic game shows including Body Language, Super Password, and Dick Clark-hosted The $10,000 Pyramid, per Variety.
“She helped people win money on The $25,000 Pyramid. She was so proud of that,” he said in her death announcement, adding that his late wife was “so quick and witty and funny.”
After retiring from acting, Smith went back to school to earn a master’s degree in psychology from Antioch University, which she used to become a marriage and family therapist in California, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Later in life, the retired model was inspired by her journey with in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to found The Egg Donor Program — now Hatch Fertility — in 1991, per the outlet.
“Following her own efforts to have [twins] Nicky and Miranda” through IVF, she “saw what was wrong with the industry,” Maguire said. “She helped thousands and thousands of people have babies.”
He added: “It was so sweet and she loved every time.”
The egg donor fertilization company shared its own tribute to its founder following her death.
“The world of fertility and our Hatch family mourns the loss of Shelley Smith, a titan in the industry and the beloved founder of The Egg Donor Program and The Surrogacy Program – now known as Hatch,” the post reads. “A trailblazer, Shelley founded the world’s first egg donor program and was at the forefront of surrogacy initiatives.”
“The torch Shelley lit burns brighter than ever in each one of us at Hatch. We are committed to honoring her memory by pushing boundaries in the fertility realm, inspired by the path she laid out for us,” the post concluded. “May we always remember her not just as the founder of this incredible agency but as a beacon, guiding us toward a future filled with hope, love, and limitless possibilities.”
Even after selling Hatch “just a few years ago,” Smith continued to provide her therapy services online, according to her husband.
“She loved helping people,” Maguire said. “Most of all, she helped me. She made me a much better person than I ever would have been.”
“We were so in love and it just got stronger and stronger right up until the moment she passed,” he said through tears. “I’m devastated and broken.”
