The David Chadwick Smith Chair
![[David Smith in the mid 1980s]](dcsmith.jpg)
A picture of David Smith taken in the mid 1980s.
The Department of Economics has raised the money to establish a chair in memory of David Smith, who was Head of the Department from 1968 to 1981 and Principal of the University from 1984 to 1994. These pages provide some information about David's life and how we have honoured his memory.
David Smith's Life
The David Chadwick Smith Chair in Economics
How to Contact Us
David Smith's Life
The son of Baptist missionaries, David Chadwick Smith was born in
Ootacamund, in southeastern India, on August 12, 1931. His family moved
back to Simcoe, Ontario when he was eight years old, where he attended
public and high school. David then went to McMaster University, graduating
in 1953 with an Honours Degree in Economics, and winning a scholarship to
Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a Master's Degree. It was at
McMaster that he met his wife Mary Taylor, who is now an ordained United
Church minister. They married in 1955. After completing his studies at
Oxford, David Smith moved to Harvard, where in 1959 he received a PhD,
specializing in open-economy fiscal policy.
A brief stint as an Assistant Professor at Berkeley ended in July 1960, after which he began a long career at Queen's. Dr. Smith was promoted to Associate in 1963 and to Full Professor in 1966, just three years later. In 1968, he was named Head of the Department of Economics, a position he held until 1981. In 1984, he was appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's, serving two five-year terms. Dr. Smith turned 65 in 1996 and received the title Emeritus Principal and Professor. From July 1997 to June 1998, he served as Interim President and Vice-Chancellor of Trent University. David Smith died on May 22, 2000 at the age of 68, after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Mary, two children, Monica and Geoffrey, and three grandchildren.
During David Smith's years as Head of the Department of Economics at Queen's, he transformed a small but distinguished department into a major, internationally-recognized centre for economic research and teaching. The list of economists he recruited to Queen's reads like a who's who of the profession. They include no less than six presidents of the Canadian Economics Association and three Fellows of the Econometric Society. The graduate program in Economics flourished under David's guidance, becoming the largest in the country at the Ph.D. level. Many former graduate students are among the country's leading policy-makers, and there is hardly an economics department in Canada that does not include a Queen's graduate on its masthead. Those who were at Queen's during David Smith's tenure, which includes regular faculty and the many visitors that he attracted, were drawn in by the friendly and collegial atmosphere, an atmosphere that has been one of his enduring legacies.
As Principal of Queen's from 1984 to 1994, a period of increasingly severe financial constraints and social change, David Smith enhanced the university's standing as one of the premier academic institutions in Canada. Among his many achievements were the Stauffer Library, the Biosciences Complex, the National Scholars program, the International Study Centre at Herstmonceux, and the University's first women's studies program. As well, Dr. Smith was instrumental in the formation of the School of Policy Studies and, prior to becoming Principal, the John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy. His gentle, patient style and unwaveringly high standards, which had helped transform the Economics Department, became the hallmarks of his time as Principal.
David Smith was widely sought out as an advisor by both governments and universities over his more than 40-year career. He was a member of the Ontario Economic Council for ten years, including three as Deputy Chair, Vice-Chair of the Ontario Royal Commission on Workers' Compensation, and Director of Research (Economics) for the highly influential MacDonald Royal Commission. More recently, David was senior policy advisor to the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation and Chair of the advisory panel on postsecondary education in Ontario. In fact, he completed the last two of three major reports on the financing of postsecondary education shortly before his death.
David Smith received many honours. In 1976, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and, in 1994, he became a Member of the Order of Canada. As well, Dr. Smith was awarded honourary degrees by McMaster University, Queen's University at Belfast, the University of Western Ontario, Queen's University, and Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology. But it is the honour that he brought to his friends and those he worked with that will be most remembered. "He was such a wonderful human being," said Queen's benefactor Alfred Bader after hearing of David Smith's death. It was his selfless desire to serve, combined with his extraordinary ability, that led Tom Courchene to describe him as "a national treasure." Although David Smith was a private man, those who were his colleagues in the Economics Department, and later in the broader university community, felt close to him. It was this feeling of affection and admiration that allowed David to bring out the best in the people, and it may have been the true source of his success.
The David Chadwick Smith Chair in Economics
In his thirteen years as Head of the Queen's Economics Department, and later
his ten years as Principal of Queen's, David Smith's overriding concern was
the pursuit of excellence. He built the Department of Economics into one of
the leading departments in Canada by hiring the best people he could
possibly find.
With this legacy in mind, the Economics Department has established, in David's memory, the David Chadwick Smith Chair in Economics. The chair is to be held by a truly outstanding economist, someone who contributes greatly to the international reputation of the Department and also to its teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This model was established by David Smith himself when he brought Richard Lipsey back to Canada in 1970. This outstanding appointment helped to attract many excellent junior faculty members and played a key role in the subsequent development of the Department.
It was David's policy throughout his tenure as Head to hire the best people available, without regard to field. He was never distracted by short-term needs for people with the particular skills to fill particular slots at particular points in time. In keeping with this policy and the wishes of the Smith family, the Chair will be held by a scholar who may be in any area of Economics.
The David Chadwick Smith Chair is intended to be the premier chair in Economics in Canada. Its first occupant is Robin Boadway, who is one of Canada's leading economists and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Recent News
The Chair was formally approved by the Board of Trustees on May 8, 2004, and
efforts to fill it began in May of 2005. Robin Boadway became the
first holder of the Chair on July 1, 2008.
Unfortunately, dramatic developments in financial markets in the fall
of 2008 and the winter of 2009 had a severe impact on the
finances of the David Smith Chair. The annual income of the Chair is
set to fall substantially between 2009 and 2012. As a result, it will
be in a deficit position as soon as the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Further donations would therefore be extremely welcome.
How to Contact Us
If you would like to contribute to the David C. Smith Chair, or you would
like to help us raise funds for this project, please do not hesitate to
contact us. There are several ways to do so.
- Juanita Dennie is the Department's Alumni Coordinator. Her number is 613 533-3122, and her e-mail address is denniej@econ.queensu.ca
- James MacKinnon is the Head of the Department. His phone number is 613 533-2293, and his e-mail address is jgm@econ.queensu.ca.
- Frank Milne is the Department's Fundraising Chair. His phone number is 613 533-6494, and his e-mail address is milnef@econ.queensu.ca.
- Patty McHenry is the Director of Major Gifts in the Department of Development. Her phone number is 613 533-6000, ext. 74001, and her e-mail address is patty.mchenry@queensu.ca.
