Robert H. Smith, a real estate mogul who became the university’s largest donor, died after a stroke Tuesday. He was 81.
Smith was born in 1928 in Brooklyn, and his family moved to Washington when he was a child. He graduated from the university with a degree in accounting in 1950. After graduation, he took over his father’s real estate and construction companies.
Among the dozens of commercial and residential projects Smith was instrumental in building was the development of Crystal City Arlington, Va. When Smith first saw the area in 1961, it was relatively dilapidated. Today, it is a thriving collection of shops, housing and high-rise buildings.
Smith’s commercial building company is now a division of New York-based Vornado and owns and manages 18 million square feet of office properties in metropolitan Washington. His company focusing on residential real estate is now a division of Archstone Realty. Both companies bear the name of his father, Charles E. Smith.
Beginning in the 1990s, Smith and his family became major philanthropic figures. He gave $15 million to the university’s business school in 1997, and the school now bears his name. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is named after his wife. According to The Washington Post, he would eventually give nearly $100 million to the university.
“Bob Smith is the greatest philanthropic supporter of public education in the history of the state of Maryland,” university President Dan Mote told the Post.
Smith also gave millions to Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson, and donated paintings and sculptures to the Smithsonian and other museums.
Smith is survived by his wife, Clarice, a sister, two children and four grandchildren.
robillard at umdbk dot com
