Peter W. Smith (February 23, 1936 – May 14, 2017) was an American investment banker who had a 40-year career managing corporate acquisitions and venture investments. He was active in Republican politics. In 1998, he was identified as a major financial supporter of the 1993 Troopergate story, in which several Arkansas state troopers accused U.S. President Bill Clinton of having carried out sexual dalliances while he was Governor of Arkansas. In 2017, he confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that he (along with former national security advisor Michael Flynn) had tried in 2016 to contact computer hackers, including Russian hackers, in an attempt to obtain opposition research material to use against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Ten days after speaking to the paper, he committed suicide in a Minnesota hotel room, citing ill health. Education Smith earned a BS in electrical engineering from Northeastern University. He went on to earn an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Career From 1969 to 1980 he was a senior officer at Field Enterprises, Inc. From 1975 to 1997 he was president of his own firm, Peter W. Smith & Company, specializing in buyout transactions. From 1997 to 2014 he was Managing Member of DigaComm, LLC where he primarily managed early venture investments. At the time of his death he was Chairman Emeritus of Corporate Venture Alliances, LLC. Political involvement He was national chairman of the College Young Republicans. He was a board member and officer of the Atlantic Council of the United States and was also active with the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Brookings Institution. He was a contributor and fundraiser for the Republican National Committee and GOPAC as well as individual candidates. Smith was a major donor to Newt Gingrich's GOPAC, giving over $100,000 from 1989 to 1995—a sum which made him one of GOPAC's top 20 donors. In December 1993, two Arkansas state troopers publicly claimed that they and other troopers had been used to facilitate and conceal multiple extra-marital affairs of then-Governor Bill Clinton. The stories were published in an article by then-conservative author David Brock in the American Spectator and also in a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times. Smith had arranged for the troopers to meet Brock. In February 1994 Smith started a "Troopergate Whistle Blower Fund" to provide support for the troopers and pay their