Philanthropy
Smith gave generously to the University of Maryland, College Park, his alma mater. The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, was named in his honor in 1998 to recognize his gift of $15 million, the largest gift the school had ever received. He continuously supported its programs, subsequently making additional generous gifts as the school has expanded and risen in prestige. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, completed in 2001, is named for his wife.
Interestingly, the Kogod School of Business at the American University in Washington, DC, is named after Robert P. Kogod, brother-in-law of Robert H. Smith. Like his father, Smith also served on the board of trustees at The George Washington University in 1976 and again from 1977–1997. His son currently sits on the board of trustees at George Washington. The Smith and Kogod families are major donors to GW, too. The Charles E. Smith Athletic Center at GW is named in his father's honor. In addition, Smiths contributions to Johns Hopkins Hospital allowed for the construction of the Wilmer Eye Institute.
Smith was charitable to nearby historical and preservation efforts including the development of the Robert H. & Clarice Smith Auditorium at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, and the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Gallery at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Visitors' Center. On November 3, 2007, the National Society of Madison Family Descendant’s awarded the Madison Family Cup to Robert H. Smith for his extraordinary contributions to James Madison’s legacy and the preservation and development of Montpelier.
Smith's family also gave charitably to a number of Jewish communal causes in the greater Washington, DC, area, including the Charles E. Smith Life Communities, a senior housing and elder care campus in Rockville, Maryland, and the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, also in Rockville. Both organizations are named for Smith's father.
Smith also served as president and trustee of the National Gallery of Art, and chairman of the board of governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded Smith with the National Humanities Medal.
Until his death of a stroke in December 2009, he resided in Crystal City, Virginia, with his wife, Clarice. They had three children, Michelle and David, and Stephen, who is deceased.
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Famous quotes containing the word philanthropy:
“I shall not be forward to think him mistaken in his method who quickest succeeds to liberate the slave. I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... the hey-day of a woman’s life is on the shady side of fifty, when the vital forces heretofore expended in other ways are garnered in the brain, when their thoughts and sentiments flow out in broader channels, when philanthropy takes the place of family selfishness, and when from the depths of poverty and suffering the wail of humanity grows as pathetic to their ears as once was the cry of their own children.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“Almost every man we meet requires some civility,—requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)