R. BRINKLEY SMITHERS
1907 - 1994

Mr. R. Brinkley Smithers, a recovering alcoholic, marshaled his personal and family fortune into the nation’s largest foundation in support of alcoholism research, education, prevention, and treatment – the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation. Before the development of NIAAA, he provided more financial support for alcoholism prevention and treatment programs than the United States government provided. He was a major contributor to the National Council on Alcoholism (now called the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence). In the fifties, he supported the Yale School of Alcohol Studies; in the sixties, when it moved to Rutgers University, he built Smithers Hall to house Rutgers Center for Alcohol Studies. He also funded the Smithers Treatment Center at Roosevelt Hospital and many other innovative educational and community programs around the country. He also played a prominent role in encouraging President Richard Nixon to sign the Comprehensive Alcoholism Act of 1970 (the Hughes Act) which created the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

In the fifties, Brink Smithers forged a close working relationship with Professor Harrison Trice at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Together, they conducted a number of pioneering studies on alcoholism. These included a series of studies on the social psychological predictors of affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous, the workplace risk factors associated with alcohol, drug, and other mental health problems, and workplace programs for the prevention and treatment of employees’ personal problems. This pioneering work continues at the ILR School’s Smithers Institute for Alcohol-Related Workplace Studies.

Mr. Smithers passed away on January 11, 1994. He is remembered as a generous and kind man dedicated to relieving people’s suffering and improving policy. The close collaboration he forged between the ILR School and the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation continues to be carried on by his wife, Mrs. Adele Smithers - Fornaci , and his son, Christopher B. Smithers.