Marquette University - Hilltop Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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Fr. Gerard Smith, S.J., professor and chairman of the philosophy depart- ment of Marquette, is such a teacher in whom his teaching lives. He is a primary teacher, one who gives his students insights and challenges not found in textbooks or class notes, insights so original, so individual that only he can give them. His class lectures are permeated and punctuated with Fr. Smithismsf' In his description of man as an object of first intention he explains: Obviously the man whom we know in that way, exists or can exist in all his own physical splen- dor, with his ears layed back, his feet in the trough, eating corn on the cob, and washing it all down with a highball as long as his leg. Then he rumbles and explodes into laughter while his students join in, pleased to think that he can find such enjoyment from teaching them. They know him to be a wise man, reposed in his wisdom and vitalized by it. Fr. Smith was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on April 25, 1896. He entered the Jesuit order in 1914 at Florissant, Mo., after four years at St. Mary's College, Kan- sas. Both his bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees were received from St. Louis University. He did graduate work at the School of Divinity, St. Louis, Ore Place in Hast- ings, Englandg and Fouviere in Lyons, France. In 1936 he earned his doctorate from the Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, Toronto University. Fr. Smith came to Marquette in 1929 as an instructor in English and, later, philosophy. He remained at Marquette until 1935, when he left to spend a year at St. Louis as an associate professor. He returned to Marquette in 1936, and became head of the philosophy department in 1944. In 1955 he became the first American and the first priest to be awarded the Spell- man-Aquinas medal by the American Catholic Philosophical Association. This medal is given occasionally, but not annually, for excellence in philosophical writ- ingand teaching. Only two medals were previously awarded, one to Jacques Mari- tain in 1951 and one to Etienne Gilson in 1952. Fr. Smith was the Fordham University Suarez lecturer in 1955, the Marquette University Aquinas lecturer in 1956, and received the Marquette faculty award for teaching excellence in 1959. His professional affiliations include memberships in the American Philosophi- cal Association, the Catholic Committee on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs and the American Catholic Philosophical Association, of which he was president in 1951. His writings include over 70 articles in philosophical and educational quar- terlies. His philosophy text, Natural Theology, was published in 1951. In 1961 he co-authored a second text, The Philosophy of Being. Other books are Molina and Liberty Cunpublished dissertationj in 1936 and The Truth That Frees, 1956. Fr. Smith is editor of the Aquinas Lecture series, the Christian Wisdom series, the Highway to Heaven series, Jesuit Thinkers of the Renaissance, Translations of Medieval Texts and An Etienne Gilson Tribute. Fr. Smith's life is a search for wisdom and truth and a possession and com- munication of it. By giving of himself he is able to give this wisdom and truth to others. To this philosopher-teacher, we dedicate this book.