Robert H. Smith '50: Investing in Potential
In 1998, the potential he saw in the University of Maryland’s business school
led him to make a landmark gift of $15 million that changed the course of the
school’s future. Smith received his degree in accounting from the business
school in 1950 and has been a continuous and active supporter of the school,
providing an additional $3 million in 2003, among other contributions, including
a $30 million contribution in 2005 to support students, faculty and academic
programs in the Smith School, as well as support the university’s Clarice Smith
Performing Arts Center.
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Since Smith’s naming gift, the school’s stature and size have undergone a
dramatic transformation with the addition of world-class research centers,
top-flight faculty and increased student quality. Today Smith is excited about
where he sees the Robert H. Smith School of Business going.
“Fifty years ago when I graduated from the business school, technology was a
vague term about who knows how to use what machine. Today we have much more
information available to us,” says Smith. “Today’s technology can give people
the ability to make better decisions, and in this very competitive age, the
ability to make better decisions is what helps people to succeed.”
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"Nations are defended on the
battlefields but they are built in the classroom," says Robert
H. Smith at the State House in Annapolis, Md., when he presented
his $30-million gift to the University of Maryland on Feb. 3,
2005.
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The Drive to Succeed
Smith has succeeded beyond his own wildest dreams. By the time he was 15 or
16 years old, Smith knew he wanted to be a builder-developer. So he enrolled
in the university’s School of Engineering, thinking that would be the best
preparation for his future career. A mechanical drawing course soon proved
that his gifts and talents lay elsewhere. He did have an aptitude for
accounting and finance, though, so he transferred to the business school. “I
figured a background in business would serve me well, and I could always
hire engineers,” he laughs. “I’m very glad I majored in accounting; it was a
terrific financial background to build on.”
Smith remembers The Dairy fondly. “They had fantastic ice cream and
milkshakes. It was kind of a hangout for kids. But I was a commuter, so I
didn’t participate in many of the campus activities. I studied a lot. I came
in and parked and went to class.”
His work ethic hasn’t abated in the 50 years since he graduated. “I
graduated on a Thursday and went to work on Monday,” says Smith. “I’ve never
stopped. When I get up in the morning I still have the same enthusiasm and
energy as I had 50 years ago and the same drive to make things happen.”
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A Grateful American
My grandfather came
to America in 1908; he was a carpenter and then a
carpenter-contractor. My father came over with his mother and
siblings in 1911. He didn’t speak the language; he just knew
that he wanted to learn English, to be an American and to
succeed.
I consider myself a grateful American. I’m very interested in
the Founding Fathers and the period between 1770 and 1790, when
these outstanding men came together with a common vision to
create our society through documents like the Declaration of
Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution. They created
a country that has given people more opportunity and hope in the
past 230 years than any other type of government in the history
of man.
My family has had tremendous
opportunities because we live in this free, democratic society,
for which I am thankful. One who has forgotten to be thankful
has fallen asleep in the midst of life. It isn’t a calamity to
die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.
When you cease to dream, you cease to live.
Robert H. Smith '50
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Seeing the Business School’s Potential
Being a developer has given Smith a certain measure of foresight; he loves
looking at an empty piece of ground and imagining its potential, seeing its
future. This made him perfectly suited to seeing the potential that lay in
University of Maryland’s business school.
“Robert Tardio (former chair of the University of Maryland Foundation)
came to me 15 years ago and asked if I was interested in making a naming
gift. I wasn’t ready then,” says Smith. “I also knew that if I was going to
associate my name with an institution, I wanted to be sure it had the
potential to be outstanding.”
Several years later Smith received a visit from then-University of
Maryland President William “Brit” Kirwan and newly minted business school
Dean Howard Frank. They, too, were hoping to interest Smith in investing in
the future of the business school. The businessman made them an offer: if
the school produced a credible business plan to make the school one of the
top fifteen in the country, he was in. Frank and Kirwan came back with a
detailed, year-by-year plan showing how the school would attract the best
faculty and students and build the best physical plant. They described how
Smith’s gift would be used, and how the school would be supported with
increased funding from the university and the state. Smith was impressed
with Frank’s vision to build a globally recognized institution with the best
faculty, the best and brightest students, and the most up-to-date physical
plant in the world. In 1997 he gave $15 million, the largest gift the school
has ever received, to help make that vision a reality.
Making the Vision a Reality
Smith continues to be impressed with the progress the Smith School has made
to bring its vision to life. “When you bring together the best faculty and
the best students, and a dean who has a vision, exciting things happen,”
says Smith. “The changes in the last five years have been so dramatic. It is
axiomatic that progress depends upon the belief that things can always be
better.”
Smith has gone beyond his initial gift to keep the school moving toward
its vision. “This isn’t just a short-term commitment on my part; it’s up to
me to do whatever I can to keep motivating the school to exceed its own
expectations. Excellence is everything. I’m willing to keep investing in the
school because I can see the results.”
Robert H. Smith is a 1950 Alumnus of the College of Business and Management
(major: Accounting) and is married to Clarice Smith, who attended the
University from 1952 to 1953.
Smith is Chairman, Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty, a division of
Vornado Realty Trust, and Chairman, Charles E. Smith Residential, a division
of Archstone-Smith. His family company is best known for developing and
building the Crystal City complex in Northern Virginia.
He has been active in civic affairs, lending his energy and expertise to
a variety of local, national and international organizations. His
philanthropic efforts include the University, as well as such organizations
as the National Gallery of Art, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation
(Monticello), Mount Vernon, Montpelier, Mayo Foundation and Hebrew
University in Jerusalem.
