Born on February 2, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois, Thomas Donald Smith was one of the two sons of Thomas and Johanna Crowley Smith. His primary education was taken at Our Lady of the Angels School, Chicago; St. Luke's Grammar School, River Forest; St. Bernardine's School, Forest Park, and St. James School, Maywood, Illinois. Following a year of high school studies at St. Philip's in Chicago, he completed his secondary education at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois, graduating in 1932. He then attended Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island, for the next two years.

On August 15, 1934, Thomas Smith received the Dominican habit and the religious name of Damian at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky. After his novitiate, he made simple profession there on August 16, 1935. Brother Damian moved to the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, for his philosophical studies and one year of theological studies, receiving a B.A. in June 1938. He continued theological studies at St. Joseph's

Priory, Somerset, Ohio, and then returned to River Forest for the remainder of his pre- ordination studies. He was ordained in the House of Studies chapel at River Forest by Samuel Cardinal Stritch on June 7, 1941.

Father Smith's first assignment was to the faculty of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where he taught English. For the next three years, he also attended DePaul University and received a master's degree in English in 1945.

During his tenure at Fenwick, from 1942 to 1968, he also served as director of cooperator brothers for three years, as editor of the Dominican Bulletin for eleven years, as editor of the Dominican Educational Bulletin for three years, and as a member of the Executive Board of the Dominican Educational Association from 1964 to 1968.

He was then assigned as an associate pastor at Holy Rosary Parish, Minneapolis, and also served as procurator to the community there. In 1974, he moved to St. Dominic's Villa, Dubuque, Iowa, where he served as chaplain until 1981, when he accepted a chaplaincy at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, Texas.

In early March of 1988, Father Smith was diagnosed as having acute leukemia, and a two-week period of chemotherapy was prescribed in the hope of arresting the disease. On April 7, following the celebration of Mass and the singing of the "Salve" in his hospital room, he died peacefully in his sleep. A wake service was held at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont on April 8; Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated at St. Ann Church, Beaumont, on April 9; and then he was moved to the Priory of St. Dominic and St. Thomas in River Forest, Illinois. Following a wake and Mass at the Priory on April 11, 1988, he was buried in the Dominican plot at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.