Howard Remus Smith, born in 1872, was the son of Frederick Hart Smith and Mary Selina Burr, and the grandson of Azariel Smith, an early Michigan settler. He graduated from Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) in 1895 with a degree in agriculture. He taught in high schools from 1895 to 1899, studied at the University of Wisconsin during 1899-1900, and began his first college teaching job at Missouri in 1900. In 1901, he was appointed professor of animal husbandry at the University of Nebraska, where he remained until 1912. In 1912, Smith accepted appointment as chair of the Department of Animal Husbandry at the University of Minnesota, where he stayed until 1915. Also in 1912, Smith married Hazel R. Neu.

From 1915 to 1917, he was employed as a livestock specialist by James J. Hill, of the Great Northern Railway. From this period come the reminiscences contained in the typescript "James J. Hill as I Knew Him," written in 1961. From 1917 to 1921, he was Livestock Commissioner for Tuberculosis Eradication with the Chicago Livestock Exchange, and after 1921 he was in charge of educational work on tuberculosis eradication at all markets for the National Livestock Exchange. From 1928 he was employed by the National Livestock Sanitary Committee, or, under its later names, National Livestock Loss Prevention Board, Inc., and Livestock Conservation, Inc., being its general manager at his retirement.

After his January 1, 1951 retirement, Smith maintained a large volume of correspondence, wrote several pamphlets, acted as secretary for the class of 1895, and, in 1956, was sent as a delegate to the General Council of the Congregational Churches in Omaha, Nebraska.

Smith was awarded an honorary Doctor of Agriculture from the University of Nebraska (1944), a 1952 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from Michigan State College, and in the same year, election to the Nebraska Hall of Agriculture Achievement. In 1955, he received a Centennial Award from Michigan State University.