Charles Smith (developer)

Smith (born Schmidoff),[1] was born in Lipnick, Russian Empire on March 28, 1901[2] to an Orthodox[4] Jewish family in Russia, the son of Sadie and Reuven Schmidoff.[5][6] He immigrated to Brownsville, Brooklyn[7] in 1911 speaking only Yiddish upon his arrival.[1] He started as a developer in Brooklyn, but lost everything in the Great Depression.[8]

He moved to Rockville, MD where he first developed apartments and later office buildings. He founded the Charles E. Smith Co. and developed the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia. He retired in 1967 and turned to philanthropy.[1]

He planned a complex in Rockville for Jewish agencies including the Hebrew Home for the Aged, the Jewish Social Service Agency and the Jewish Community Center. He was a trustee of George Washington University (GWU) from 1967 to 1976 as well as Chairman of the Committee on University Development. The Charles E. Smith Athletic Center at George Washington University is named in his honor.[9] He played a key role in developing GW's branch campus in Loudoun County, Virginia.

His contributions to Jewish philanthropy include:

• Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School
• Charles E. Smith Life Communities
• Hartman High School- Charles E. Smith High School for Boys
• Charles E. Smith Family and Prof. Joel Elkes Laboratory for Collaborative Research in Psychobiology[10][11]
• Charles E. Smith chair in Judaic studies at GWU[12]

Smith held honorary doctorates from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Jewish Theological Seminary and George Washington University.[1] In 1997 he was posthumously awarded an Honor Award from the National Building Museum alongside other community developers of Washington, D.C., including Morris Cafritz and Charles A. Horsky.[13]

Smith married twice. His first wife was Leah Goldstein of Yonkers whom he married on February 8, 1927;[14] they had two children, Robert H. Smith and Arlene Smith Kogod (married to Robert P. Kogod). Leah died in 1972.[15] His second wife was Miriam Schuman Uretz Smith.[16]

• Smith, Charles E.; David Bruce Smith; Peter Muller (1985). Building My Life. Washington, D. C.?: C.E. Smith. LCCN 86463574. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
• Smith, Charles E.; David Bruce Smith (1998). Building the Community: Memorable Events in my Life. Washington D.C.: C.E. Smith. LCCN 97181010.
• Smith, Charles E.; David Bruce Smith (c. 1993). Letters to my Children. LCCN 93204323.

• Smith, David Bruce. Conversations with Papa Charlie: A Memory of Charles E. Smith. Capital Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-892123-34-3.
• Smith, David Bruce (October 2, 2008). 13 Young Men: How Charles E. Smith Influenced a Community (Google eBook). Washington D.C.: C.E. Smith. ISBN 978-0-615-26854-5. LCCN 2010467953. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
• Van Dyne, Larry (July 1, 2001). "Chasing Money: Getting Big Donations Is the Name of the Game..." Washingtonian Magazine. Retrieved 2013-01-20.

• Founding of Smith Life Communities
• "About Charles E. Smith – Charles E. Smith Life Communities". Charles E. Smith Life Communities. Archived from the original on 2012-08-14. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
• History of Smith Life Communities