BY STEFANIE BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post —
William Smith “Smitty” Dize Jr., best known for his years of service as Cape Charles’ harbor master and, later, mayor, died at his home in Saxis on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. He was 55.
A paradigm Eastern Shoreman, the affable Dize spent much of his life working on or near the water.
He started his career as a waterman, then joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. After several years as Cape Charles harbor master, Dize became the manager of The Oyster Farm marina.
He later was general manager for Oasis Marinas at the Cape Charles Yacht Center and the Sun Outdoors Chesapeake Bay resort in Temperanceville.
Dize was born in Crisfield, Md., on Oct. 15, 1969, and raised on Smith Island.
His parents are Jennifer Evans Dize and the late William Smith Dize Sr.
In addition to his mother, he is survived by two sons, Evan and Seth Dize.
Smitty Dize first visited Cape Charles at age 18 in 1987, working on a Smith Island crabbing boat.
Little did he know, he would one day not only call Cape Charles home but work tirelessly as its mayor to bring his community together, whether seeking common ground with town council members on issues or inaugurating special events that drew locals and visitors alike.
He was a resident of Onancock when he became the Cape Charles harbor master in 2005. Dize became a full-time Cape Charles resident in 2013.
When he ran for mayor in 2018, Dize said “work” was his favorite hobby, and he spoke of the satisfaction he got from making his ideas into reality.
From the harbor to the marina, “I believe that my work in Cape Charles speaks for itself,” he said.
Dize leaves behind a legacy that will live on through the many annual events he started, said Tammy Holloway, a Cape Charles town councilwoman who was first elected when Dize was elected to his four-year term as mayor.
“He really supported the watermen and our heritage, and he wanted the harbor to represent that,” Holloway said.
One of the first such events that Dize pioneered was the Blessing of Fleet, which was first held in spring 2008.
The annual event at the Waterman’s Memorial at Cape Charles Harbor is a time to pray for the safety of watermen in the coming season and remember those who have perished.
“Let’s not make history. Let’s preserve our heritage,” Dize said at the event in 2021.
As harbor master in 2012, Dize started the Clam Slam, a summer weekend event that featured live music, parades, and boat docking contests — a lost Cape Charles tradition that Dize restored.
He “brought people to the harbor as opposed to just people on boats or people who worked the water. It brought all of us together,” Holloway said.
Dize worked on a similar event that started in 2016, Shuck-N-Suck, which was tied to the annual Oyster Buy Boat Reunion.
Dize also created shoulder-season events like the Crab Pot Drop — Cape Charles’ answer to the annual New Year’s Eve Times Square ball drop.
The first Crab Pot Drop was held on Dec. 31, 2014, at 10 p.m., which Dize had pointed out was midnight in Greenland.
He also started a tradition of displaying a crab-pot Christmas tree at the harbor.
Dize was a collaborator who got things done. He had such an “open spirit that he could talk to anybody and bring people who were on opposing views or thoughts together,” Holloway said.
Andy Buchholz, a Cape Charles town councilman who was friends with Dize for 15 years, agreed.
“He was always so outgoing. He wouldn’t take no for an answer sometimes,” but “a lot of the events that happen in Cape Charles are because of him,” Buchholz said. “That’s how much he really cared.”
Dize also was involved in the restoration of the Cape Charles beach and sought to build acceptance and unity when the Coastal Precast concrete plant began operating in what had become a tourist area.
“All the stuff that’s been happening over the last two decades … Smitty had his hand in it, one way or another,” Buchholz said.
Dize even briefly served as the Cape Charles town manager when the position was vacated, noted Steve Bennett, a longtime friend and colleague who recently retired as vice mayor.
Bennett was moved when Dize drove all the way from Saxis to Cape Charles for the Dec. 19, 2024, town council meeting — eight days before he died — to speak for three minutes during the public comment period to honor Bennett’s work as vice mayor.
That was who Smitty Dize was, no matter what role he took, from harbor master to town manager.
“When he got in that position … he lived it,” Bennett said. “He was at everything. He was always … front and center. He was all in, all the time.”
