Robert H. Smith (Accounting, ’50),
can see a great investment where others
see a bare piece of ground. Among his
successful ventures as a
builder-developer is the vast,
interconnected, underground Crystal City
complex in Arlington, Va. “I love taking
a raw piece of land and coming up with a
vision and a project that is beneficial
for the developer and the consumer,”
says Smith.
Seven years ago, the potential he saw
in the University of Maryland’s business
school led him to make a landmark gift
that changed the course of the school’s
future. 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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I am a firm
believer that life is a two-way street.
Giving back to institutions you believe
in is part of that philosophy. You don't
have to give millions of dollars. The
important point is to participate at the
level you are comfortable with.
Financial
success is not a destination; it is only
part of the journey, enabling you to
reach your ultimate fulfillment, and
that is to give something back to help
make a difference.
Robert H. Smith |
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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 |
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.
Robert
H. Smith: