Richard Smith
A genuine legend in higher education, Richard Smith’s distinguished career nearly never started. Though he wanted to attend college, family duty took precedence. “I graduated Holy Spirit High School in 1956,” Smith says, “and had to support my mother.” As a meter reader for South Jersey Electric and Gas Company, he befriended a woman who would change his life. “Mrs. McCarty was on my route; I would do her shopping sometimes,” Smith recalled. “One day her son, Henry, a Catholic priest, was at her house. He heard my story and offered to help as a gesture of appreciation.” Father McCarty asked his brother, John, the owner of a loan company, for help with funding Smith’s GSC education. The priest’s generosity and goodwill blessed Smith again when, to Smith’s surprise, McCarty ripped up the promissory note on graduation day and, later, when he presided over the wedding of Dick and his wife, Nancy.

Earning his peers’ confidence, the art major Smith served four years as class president. Still active in that role, he recently helped raise funds for a generous Class of ’62 gift to guarantee the preservation of the historic Sangree Greenhouse.

The first graduate assistant in the history of Glassboro State College, Smith eventually pioneered the master’s degree program in community college education at GSC to serve a pressing need in the state. Working tirelessly throughout his career, he consulted with leaders at every community college in the region and became recognized nationally as an expert in community college education, earning his doctorate from Temple University.

Already noting Smith’s great contributions to his profession and his alma mater—and almost anticipating what he would later accomplish—he received the college’s Distinguished Alumnus award in 1976. He was the chief architect of a cooperative doctoral program with Virginia Tech as well as Rowan University’s doctoral program in Educational Leadership.

An avid fisherman, for 40 years Smith has been the host of a “fishing seminar” meant to foster camaraderie and communication among faculty and administration (see p. 12). Retired since 1999, he dotes on his family, especially his grandson, Bryce. “He’s only nine months old, but I’ll teach him to swim, fish, and golf,” Smith says.

Smith continues consulting and keeps close contact with former colleagues at Rowan as well as at other institutions. Ever amiable and eager to encourage, he makes time for professionals and students who seek his counsel. His investment in people—not institutions—is what distinguishes Smith. And he still gauges the value of his efforts by a simple measure: “When students and staff thank me,” he says, “I know I’ve done my job.”

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Alumni can honor retired faculty by donating to a scholarship fund and other investment. Call Anne Hagan at 856-256-5402 or visit the Rowan University Foundation.