Smile Saint-Aubin
- Position
- Butler
- Years in President's House
- 1987 – 2009
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
Smile “Smiley” Saint-Aubin was born in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, on May 18, 1953.1 He later moved to the United States, and by 1987, he worked at the White House as a butler.2 White House butlers serve food and beverages to the first family and their guests, set tables for dinners, teas, and receptions, maintain the general cleanliness of White House dining rooms, and fulfill other requests as needed.3
When the Obamas moved into the White House with their daughters Sasha and Malia in 2009, Saint-Aubin informally taught them French. When he fell ill that year, they sent him cards in the hospital that read “We miss you so much. It isn’t nearly as much fun at the White House without you.”4
Smile Saint-Aubin died on March 11, 2009.5 The following month, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a memorial service for Saint-Aubin in the East Room to celebrate his life and service.6
- “Smile Saint-Aubin,” Family Tree, Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/209442641/person/332762365659/facts?_phsrc=GAH2594&_phstart=successSource.
- White House Office of the Curator, e-mail message to author, March 16, 2026.
- “Butler,” Undated, Folder: Personnel (Residence) – [Position Descriptions], Office of the Executive Residence: Usher’s Office: Records, 1981-1989, Ronald Reagan Library.
- Quoted in Kenneth T. Walsh, Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House (Taylor and Francis, 2015), 209.
- “Smile Saint-Aubin,” Legacy, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/smile-saint-aubin-obituary?id=5635091.
- Barack Obama, “Digest of Other White House Announcements," Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/379374.
- Birthplace
- Cap-Haïtien, Haiti
- Burial Place
- Unclear from Context
- Blue markers indicate birthplaces and green markers indicate burial places. Black markers are used for places of both birth and burial.