Mass of Thanksgiving - HealthCare Chaplaincy

Mass of Thanksgiving
The Reverend Dr. Walter J. smith, s.J.
Presider
Church of saint ignatius Loyola
new York City
solemnity of Pentecost ◆ 27 May 2012

La Vierge entourée des apôtres reçoivent le
Saint-Esprit dans une basilique (1485)
Pentecost is one of the most ancient
feasts of the Church, celebrated
early enough to be mentioned in the
acts of the apostles (20:16) and st.
Paul's first Letter to the
Corinthians (16:8). it is the 50 th day
after Easter and corresponds to
the Jewish feast of shavuot, which
takes place 50 days after Pesach
(Passover), and celebrates the
sealing of the old Covenant on
Mount sinai.
father smith was ordained to the
priesthood on the vigil of Pentecost
and celebrated his first public
mass in 1972 on Pentecost sunday.

A Brief Biography
In Celebration of
The Rev. Dr. Walter J. Smith, S.J.
By Bernie Rosner, Staff Writer, HealthCare Chaplaincy
More than twenty years ago, The Society of
Jesus made a very generous commitment of the
energy and talents of one of their members to
HealthCare Chaplaincy that would prove to be
instrumental in transforming this small but
significant organization into a nationally
recognized force in shaping the future of health
care in America.
That investment took the form of the Rev. Dr.
Walter J. Smith, S.J.
With Walter’s vision and mission-driven
leadership in education, research, clinical
practice and public policy advocacy, HealthCare
Chaplaincy has taken the concept of spiritual
care in health care and moved it out of the
shadows and into the light. The staff has grown
in numbers and strength, providing chaplaincy
services to most of the major hospitals in the
greater New York City area. And looking ahead,
Chaplaincy is poised to build the first National
Center for Palliative Care Innovation.
In The Beginning… the Formative Years
Every success story has a beginning, and this one
started almost seven decades ago in South
Boston, Massachusetts, in an urban Roman
Catholic “ghetto.” The church was the center of
the community, and the church school was where
every kid on the block was educated. The nuns
and parish priests lived only blocks away. And the
families lived in between.
Walter’s family was proud of its Irish immigrant
roots, which were deeply planted in Boston. His
maternal grandfather was a Boston firefighter.
And his father followed him into that same
profession. Walter was the first non-firefighter in
the extended family, and the first to graduate from
college.
South Boston in the 1940’s and 1950’s was a
world unto itself, where immigrants ended up
settling and building new lives. The church was
omnipresent. From the rear porch of their thirdstory
apartment, Walter could look out and see
the façade of the church and the rectory. Looking
down the street, he could see the church’s
grammar school. He was literally enveloped by
the presence of the church. It was a nurturing
mother in every sense.
In this community and in the Smith household in
particular, Saint Patrick’s Day was as big an event
as Christmas and Easter. Walter knew Irish
prayers and ballads as well as he knew the pledge
of allegiance.

Growing up, he enjoyed a close relationship with
his maternal grandmother, Rose O’Brien, who
helped him to better understand his Irish ancestry
and faith, both of which are so deeply grounded in
Roman Catholicism. She talked about her family’s
life in County Fermanagh, one of the four counties
in Northern Ireland that are predominantly Roman
Catholic. Though not formally educated, she had
an articulate philosophy of life, which she regularly
shared with her oldest grandson.
Nana O’Brien had severely gnarled hands due to
arthritis and diabetes. He can remember as a
young boy, lying with his head on her lap, studying
the rigidity and distortions of her fingers. “Nana,”
he asked, “isn’t it difficult for you to do all the
things you used to do, since you can no longer
bend your fingers” With the simply expressed
wisdom of an Irish woman, she replied: “What you
do with your mind, heart and soul matters far
more than what you do with your hands and feet.”
Early Influences
It was a foregone conclusion that Walter and his
siblings would attend parochial school rather than
public school. At that time, there were no lay
teachers at the parish school, so from first grade
on Walter was taught by nuns. He credits their
fidelity, commitment and astuteness with having
the greatest formative influence on his life,
especially his 8 th grade teacher, Sister Wanda
Banks, SCN. Clearly, the immigrant church
needed to build its own schools and create its
own educational systems. In the history of
American education, the parochial school system
in America has played a very significant role in the
formation of the twentieth century and many of its
leaders.
Education was Walter’s emancipation from that
very small and provincial world in which friends
from that time literally ended up marrying the girl
next door, making their home in their parents’ old
home, and raising yet another generation in that
same environment, never leaving the precincts of
those blocks.
Breaking Out
Boston College High
School senior year book
photo.
After finishing grade
school, Walter was
offered a scholarship to
Boston College High
School, a Jesuit
institution founded in
1863 to provide an
affordable education for
the children of
immigrants. This was
the foundation of today’s
Boston College.
While the tuition in the mid-1950s was only three
hundred dollars a year, that was still a major
sacrifice for families like his, of very modest
means. Fortunately Monsignor Patrick J. Waters,
the pastor of his parish, a former seminary
professor with inherited family wealth, created a
scholarship fund to annually send one boy,
graduating from the parish school, tuition free to
the four-year program at Boston College High
School. Walter’s academic performance earned
him one of those coveted scholarships.
High school was the catalyst to Walter’s
academic career, and offered an expansive
window onto the wider world. Here he met
students from different socioeconomic and
cultural backgrounds. Among his classmates
were wealthy students who came from private
schools, who had traveled abroad, whose
parents were college-educated and in the
professions, and who lived in elegant homes with

private libraries and music collections – things
that simply didn’t exist in his home.
His parents never were threatened by any of that.
In fact his mother relished the stories of Walter
moving in these new circles, taking like a duck to
water in these environments as if it were normal,
when, in fact, it was anything but.
Walter immersed himself into all that a Jesuit
education would offer: Latin, Greek, modern
languages, math, history, natural science. Since
launching their first school in 1548, the Jesuits
have believed that an integrated education is the
best path to a meaningful life of leadership and
service. By the time Walter left high school he had
read, in their original languages, Caesar’s Gallic
Wars, Cicero’s Orations and Virgil’s Aeneid; he
immersed himself in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
He had studied many of the great English
classics, including the plays and sonnets of
Shakespeare and Milton’s Paradise Lost.
It was not uncommon to get a call Saturday
morning from a Jesuit teacher. “What are you
doing at home this morning” Fr. John
Chapman, S.J. would ask. “Not much,” Walter
would answer, aware that he was about to have
his Saturday yanked out from under him. “Good.
Then I’ll meet you at the school at eleven o’clock.
We’re going to do three hours of Greek today.”
That was the culture of those years. Very
academically aggressive.
The College Years
“What can I do for you today, Mr. Smith”
“I’d like your help with this application to Harvard
College.”
He said: “Give that to me.” And without even
looking at it, he tore it up in front of Walter.
“You’re not going to Harvard,” he said. “You’re going
to either Boston College or Holy Cross. Choose.”
That was to be his field of choice – two Jesuit
schools. The first to accept him was Boston
College, which gave him an all-expenses-paid
presidential scholarship. So he continued
studying Greek and Latin, probably having read
more Greek classics than most Greeks
themselves. If you asked him, Walter would say
that his Greek and Latin literature studies had a
major impact on the way he thinks about life.
In choosing Classics as a major and French as a
minor, Walter’s career choices remained wide
open. Among his fellow students studying
classics were future physicians, lawyers and
college-professors-in-training. This led Walter to
think that he’d
probably end up in
one of those
professions. The last
thing on his mind at
that time was
becoming a Jesuit.
Yet the Jesuit
influence was all
around him.
When it came time to apply for college, Walter
went over to Harvard, picked up an application,
filled it out and went in to his school principal to
ask him to write a recommendation. The
principal, the Rev. Ambrose J. Mahoney, S.J., a
short but intimidating and powerful figure, asked,
Every Catholic boy in
Boston in those days
must have thought
about being a priest at
one time or another. It
was a passing fantasy,
Jesuit Novitiate at
Shadowbrook, Lenox, MA,
September 1962.

like imagining yourself as a cowboy or a
superhero. But as Walter immersed himself in his
studies at Boston College, those thoughts
became more than a distraction and began to
become more insistent. Since they wouldn’t go
away, he felt he had to face the issue. So, early in
the fall semester of 1961 he marched in to see the
Jesuit chaplain of the College and laid out what
was happening inside his mind and heart.
The chaplain listened patiently, then shook his
head and said, “I think you might have a
vocation.” That was not what Walter wanted to
hear. To this day he still remembers vividly those
electrically-charged words arcing through the air at
him, sucking the oxygen out of the room. “I think
you might have a vocation.”
The Priesthood Surfaces
Through the haze of his emotions, as if from a long
way off, he heard the Chaplain’s further counsel: “I
think you should talk to a few other people.”
What the chaplain was actually doing was putting
into motion a process of admission to the Society
of Jesus.
Among the Jesuits with whom Walter was invited
into conversation, was Father John McCarthy, S.J.,
the dean of the college of Arts and Sciences. This
was the first time in his undergraduate experience
that he had been inside the dean’s office. And
there he was, talking with the dean about
something as momentous as becoming a Jesuit.
The teacher-student divide quickly vanished, and
Walter was being talked to as if he were already
one of them.
Before he knew it, he was taking psychological
exams and being screened about suitability for life
as a Jesuit. The emphasis was on generosity of
The Jesuit Novitiate Class of 1962 at Shadowbrook.
Walter is highlighted, third from the right in front row.
spirit, academic readiness, emotional
preparedness, and desire. Walter passed on all
those measurements. So on the 25 th of January in
1962, he received a letter from the Provincial of
the Jesuits of New England saying he had been
accepted for admission the following July to the
novitiate, the beginning formation program of the
Society.
He hadn’t told his parents any of this before being
accepted, figuring why tell them if he decides not
to do it, or if he’s told he’s not somebody they
really want in the Society of Jesus. So he picked
his father up at the firehouse one cold morning in
early February after the completion of the night
shift and said he had something important he
wanted to tell him. His father said, “Why don’t we
drive down to the beach.”
So they did. And they parked. And Walter said to
him straight out, “I’ve decided to join the Jesuits.”
His father, a convert to Catholicism from earlier
roots in the Anglican tradition, without batting an
eye, replied, “I think that’s a wonderful decision. I
have great admiration for the Jesuits, and if this is
where God is calling you, it is a noble life.
However, if it ever proves not to be the right

decision, have the courage to leave.” Wise
counsel from a Boston firefighter.
Although the machinery of joining the priesthood
was now set in motion, Walter still had
his doubts that he would stick it out. He told his
parents not to give away his room to his siblings,
or generously donate his clothes because he
might very well be back in a month or two.
THE Transformative Experience
Walter was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. In
those days it generally took 15 years to complete
the full course of Jesuit formation: two years of
novitiate; two years of humanistic studies; three
years of philosophical studies; three years of
teaching as an intern; four years of theology; and
an additional year of spiritual formation. Thanks to
his previous college studies and the fact that he
was slated to complete doctoral studies in clinical
psychology, Walter finished the core program and
was ordained after ten years.
When he began thinking about a PhD dissertation,
Walter realized he knew very little about aging and
older people, so he thought he’d look into various
psychological issues in the spectrum of aging. The
topic of death and dying was just surfacing as a
talked-about topic, so he decided he’d focus on
older people and death and dying. The focus of his
research was the morbidity and mortality risks of
older widowed women as they adjusted to the
death of a spouse. He personally interviewed in
depth 120 women, mostly elderly, in the course of
his research. He titled his published dissertation
“The Desolation of Dido: Depression and Death and
Anxiety in a Sample of Variably-aged Widows.”
That research experience turned out to be the
single most transformative experience of his life.
From that point on, everything changed for him.
He was hearing the stories of deaths, including the
experiences of women who had lived a mom-andpop
existence, working side-by-side with their
husbands for 50 years or more. These women
were telling him more than they ever realized
themselves or had shared with anyone else. For
Walter it was a major learning experience. He
learned about the phenomenon of dying. He
learned about intimacy. And, without realizing it at
the time, he was establishing the future direction
of his entire professional career.
First public mass celebrated with family at Boston College
High School Chapel, 21 May 1972, Pentcost Sunday.
A Working Psychologist
That career started at the Cambridge Guidance
Center—first as a psychology intern and later as a
staff psychologist—where he worked for the next
five years providing mental health care to children
and families in the Cambridge area. Then in 1975,
Walter was invited to spend a year as visiting
professor of pastoral psychology at the Pontifical
Gregorian University in Rome, an institution
founded in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. During
that time, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the current
Archbishop of New York, was a seminarian at the
Pontifical North American College, and many of
Cardinal Dolan’s classmates were either students
of Walter or sought him out for spiritual direction.
Subsequently, Walter joined the faculty of Fairfield

University as assistant professor of psychology.
Through the course of his 12 years at Fairfield, he
received tenure, was promoted and chaired the
Psychology Department. During this time he
authored two books: Dying in the Human Life
Cycle and AIDS: Living and Dying with Hope,
which was selected by the Catholic Press
Association as “Best Pastoral Book of 1989.”
At the urging of his Jesuit superior, he applied for
the position and was appointed Dean and chief
academic officer at the Weston Jesuit School of
Theology in Cambridge, where he also was a
tenured professor of psychology and pastoral care.
An Interesting Opportunity Surfaces
limitations. The management at that time had had
the foresight to commit to putting together a
coalition of every faith, and change the name to
The Hospital Chaplaincy.
Part of the Chaplaincy’s search strategy was to
canvas schools of theology for prospective
candidates. So one day, Fr. Edward O’Flaherty,
S.J., who was then president of Weston, walked
into Walter’s office with a fifteen page prospectus
and said “This just came in the morning mail. It’s a
very impressive presentation of a position that
looks very much like you.”
“I’m not interested in taking any job right now,”
Walter replied. “I am taking a sabbatical at Santa
Clara University next year, where I have been given
the Bannan Fellowship.”
“Well, just put it in your briefcase and read it
tonight. If it makes any sense to you, I’d be happy
to nominate you for consideration.”
The Rev. Dr. Walter J. Smith, S.J., is appointed as The
Chaplaincy’s first executive vice president and chief
operating officer to provide for management succession
in 1991. John Twiname, Rabbi Harlan Wechsler, Carolyn
Twiname, and Chairman of Board, Donald J. Keller.
In 1991, an organization called The Hospital
Chaplaincy had just launched a national search to
recruit the person who was to become its
executive vice president and chief operating officer
and successor to the present management.
The Hospital Chaplaincy was founded in 1961 as
a Protestant organization, originally called the East
Midtown Protestant Chaplaincy, a rather explicit
name that contained the seeds of its own
So Walter put the document in his briefcase and
proceeded to forget about it. Later that evening,
when he was clearing things out, he came across
it. Impressed with the substantial look and feel of
the document, he thought “This is serious,” and
sat down and read it.
A few things jumped out at him. The organization
seemed to have its act together. Its mission was
clear. It had a sense of direction and a large vision.
He put out the word to some of his friends in the
Wall Street community: “Find out if they are for real
and financially solvent or whether they’re just
looking for someone to come and bail them out.”
The word came back, “They’ve actually got some
money in the bank. They seem to be doing okay.”
So Walter sent in his résumé and cover letter.

After not hearing back for a month, he was
invited to an interview with the headhunter, who
told Walter he’d get back to him.
After two more weeks of silence, Walter figured
that since the organization was decidedly
Protestant at that time, maybe a Roman Catholic
Jesuit priest was just too much for them.
Finally he was invited to come in and meet with a
trustee committee. John Twiname, who was copresident
at that time along with his wife Carolyn,
recalls the meeting. “We thought it was quite
remarkable to be interviewing someone who had
done work with patients and hospitals, written
books on death and dying, and had been a
professor and a clinical psychologist, and who is
now a seminary dean. Then we learned that this
guy spoke three languages fluently, had four
master’s degrees and a doctorate. Quite a
package.”
After Walter left to catch his shuttle at LaGuardia,
Rabbi Harlan Wechsler, who was a member of
the search committee, said: “I don’t know about
the rest of you, but I think we should put a ball
and chain on his ankle now before we risk letting
him get away.”
And all agreed.
As soon as Walter set foot in his apartment back
in Cambridge, the phone was ringing. It was the
headhunter. “Can you come back tomorrow
The committee would like you to meet the staff
and other members of the Board.”
The Deciding Factor
From the start, Walter was impressed that this
was intentionally a multifaith endeavor, that its
vision was to promote collaboration among
people of
diverse religious
traditions, and to
find a common
purpose in
health care and
spiritual ministry
within that
context. This
was very much
in keeping with
his Jesuit
background.
His Jesuit
superiors
thought that this
work was
important enough for the Church and society to
allow him to work outside of a Jesuit institution.
The Society of Jesus, while a Roman Catholic
religious Order, has a long tradition of being in the
vanguard of inter-religious dialogue and
collaborative ventures with other faith traditions.
So lending Walter to an organization that was
intentionally multifaith had great appeal to his
Jesuit superiors.
One of Walter’s earliest actions as CEO at The
Hospital Chaplaincy was to persuade the board
to change the name to The HealthCare
Chaplaincy, recognizing that health care is a
larger sphere than hospitals, and that the work of
this nonprofit organization transcends the
boundaries of tertiary-care hospitals, which were
initially the sole focus of the clinical services
provided by its chaplains.
A Natural Fit
Fr. Smith delivers invocation and
benediction at the Cornell
University Medical College
Commencement in 1993.
Joining The HealthCare Chaplaincy was a good
fit for Walter. It brought together a number of

things that were already part of his expertise. In
addition to knowing his way around hospitals and
hospices, Walter’s area of specialization in
psychology was in gerontology and terminal care.
Walter had also been a university professor and
administrator of a professional school of ministry.
And The HealthCare Chaplaincy had what would
grow to become the largest postgraduate
education program for professional chaplains in
the United States.
Another major component of the Chaplaincy’s
mission was research. Walter was a published
author, having been involved in both quantitative
and clinical research.
About the only experience Walter didn’t bring to
the party was fund-raising. As it turned
out, he had a dormant talent in this area, which
awakened with a bang.
John Twiname remembers taking Walter to one of
his first fundraising meetings at a foundation that
had been supporting the Chaplaincy. On the way
over, Walter said, “What are you going to ask for”
“I was thinking of $15,000,” said John. “We
should go for $25,000,” said Walter. John
gasped, but they left the meeting with a
commitment for $25,000.
Fr. Smith addresses the New York City Council in May
1996, with Speaker Peter F. Vallone, Sr., looking on.
From then on, Walter helped guide the
Chaplaincy’s steady growth and service to the
community. He also put his strengths as a
“people” person to work. Throughout his prior
twenty years as a professor, psychologist,
chairperson and dean, he never abandoned his
hands-on approach to caring for people, serving
as a pastoral associate at Sacred Heart Parish in
W. Lynn, Massachusetts; Saint Catherine of Siena
Parish in Riverside, Connecticut; Our Lady of
Sorrows Parish in Sharon, Massachusetts; and
Holy Family Parish at the United Nations in New
York City.
Walter also led the campaign to significantly
increase the Chaplaincy’s endowment. In 1996,
with lead gifts among others from Mary and
Laurance S. Rockefeller, William E. Simon, Lucy
Flemming McGrath and Jack Rudin, HealthCare
Chaplaincy purchased, rebuilt and dedicated its
new multifaith center on East 60 th Street. During
the next four years, the center expanded its
education and research departments, adding new
student facilities, additional staff and a remodeled
research center and library. To accommodate this
significant growth, the administrative staff moved
to new quarters two blocks away.
The Chaplaincy then expanded its educational
outreach by building new relationships with the
Jewish seminaries and making its first outreach to
the Islamic world of East Harlem.
The Chaplaincy also reached out beyond the
boundaries of midtown Manhattan, establishing
partnerships with health care institutions in the
Naugatuck Valley of Connecticut, up the Hudson
River to Poughkeepsie, across the river into New
Jersey and out into the counties of Long Island.
Its Spears Pastoral Research Center and Library
was well on its way to becoming the most
important resource for both quantitative and
qualitative research in the field. Chaplaincy was

assuming new leadership in the arena of end-oflife
clinical care, palliative care education, and
research.
Dealing with the Unthinkable
When 9/11 hit, the Chaplaincy was already in a
high state of preparedness. Several years before,
when TWA Flight 800 exploded and plunged into
the Atlantic off the coast of Long Island, one of the
things that Walter noticed was how willing the
local clergy were to help, but how unprepared
they were to do it right. So Walter had all of the
staff chaplains at HealthCare Chaplaincy
participate in disaster-response training, and he
established a relationship with the Red Cross to
partner with them in the event of municipal
disaster. So, shortly after the first plane hit the
World Trade Center tower, Walter was deploying
HCC’s chaplains.
When it became clear that there were few
survivors, Walter shifted the Chaplaincy’s human
resources to attend to the needs of first
responders and the people desperately searching
for news of their loved ones. He stationed
chaplains at the family center where people were
coming in with DNA samples – combs,
toothbrushes, dental records, photos, clothing –
anything that could help identify missing family
members or friends. The lines were hours long,
so Walter had chaplains of every faith positioned
at regular intervals all along those serpentine lines,
engaging and offering spiritual comfort to
hundreds of grieving, apprehensive, and
anonymous people. This started to build
communities among the people standing in the
street. They started to talk to each other in ways
that they hadn’t when they were just standing
there in their shock and isolation.
HealthCare Chaplaincy discovered, on that fateful
day, how vitally important its mission is to the
well-being, life and fabric of the civic society of
which we are all members. From that day on,
Walter was guided by this thought: “If today were
the last day of my life, would I want to do what I
am about to do today”
Moving Chaplaincy Forward
With the importance of chaplains in health care
settings becoming more firmly established, the
Chaplaincy started to become the recipient of
important funding. In 2003, the organization
received significant research grants from the John
Templeton Foundation and the Arthur Vining
Davis Foundations.
Other grants continued to come in, attracted by
the significant work that Walter’s research group
was doing at the intersections of health care and
spirituality.
In 2007, the Henry Luce Foundation awarded a
large grant to the Chaplaincy to improve the
training of chaplain educators.
Behind the scenes during these years, Walter was
hard at work recruiting a cadre of volunteer
trustees on the basis of their professional
expertise and distinctive skills. Over the course of
his tenure at the Chaplaincy, he has helped recruit
and worked with more than 250 trustees.
Walter and his executive staff would continuously
determine what the organization needed and then
search for and cultivate candidates whose talents
dove-tailed with chaplaincy’s objectives.
By now Walter’s fund-raising abilities had risen to
almost mythic proportions. Using the analogy of
the Trojan Horse, the joke among trustees was,
“Watch out when Walter invites you to breakfast,

lunch, or – worst of all – a dinner at his apartment.”
Under Walter’s guidance, the Chaplaincy focused
its attention strongly on palliative care, with the
goal of helping to shape the future of health care
in America. In the summer of 2009, HealthCare
Chaplaincy joined with AARP, the International
Longevity Center, and 30 thought leaders from
philanthropic sectors and the New York State
government to convene an historic summit on
national health reform. It was here that Walter
presented publicly his vision of an enhanced,
meaning-centered assisted living model that has
since evolved into the National Center for
Palliative Care Innovation. This meaningcentered
community of people with life-altering,
progressive illness will serve as a national
demonstration of palliative care delivered in a
residential setting with doctors and chaplains
both on site. It will offer its 120 residents an
opportunity to live out their final months or years
in an environment that provides geriatric and
palliative care carefully matched to their physical,
emotional and spiritual needs.
When health care reform became front-page
news, Walter pointed out that some of the goals
that were driving the White House and Congress
were old news to chaplains. “To quote Yogi
Berra,” said Walter, “it’s ‘déjà vu all over again.’”
Professional chaplaincy has always operated
within a framework that focuses on access to
care, cost efficiency and containment,
measureable outcomes and quality assurance.
Walter and the organization had been already
advocating strongly for evidence-based
“outcomes-oriented” chaplaincy. So it was
natural for the Chaplaincy to become an active
player in working with lawmakers to insure that
quality of care and access to care be in the
forefront of any reform legislation.
A Man Much in Demand
There’s an old saying that if you want something
done, ask a busy man to do it. From the period of
1996 to the present, Walter served as a director,
trustee or advisory board member to nineteen
educational, religious, medical and philanthropic
organizations.
Among them is Ithaca College, which he joined as
a trustee in 2004. There he has taken on the
multiple roles of chair of the educational policy
committee, member of the executive and
trusteeship and governance committees, and
advisor to the capital campaign that led to the
creation of a new athletic and events center, in
addition to two other LEED-platinum
administrative and academic buildings.
Walter later led a delegation from Ithaca College in
2011 to China to visit nine top tier universities and
professional schools in Shanghai, Chengdu,
Nanchong and Beijing, to explore opportunities for
partnering with the college.
Walter is pictured with friends from Greenwich, CT, at the
Lorenza de’ Medici cooking school at Badia a Coltibuono,
a former Benedictine Abbey originally built in 1051 in
Gaiole in Chianti, Italy.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him to serve
as a Commissioner for a major city-wide initiative,
Age-friendly New York. This initiative seeks to
make New York City a better place to grow old by

promoting an "age-in-everything" lens across all
aspects of city life. The initiative asks the city’s
public agencies, businesses, cultural, educational
and religious institutions, community groups, and
individuals to consider how changes to policy and
practice can create a city more inclusive of older
adults and more sensitive to their needs. Like
everything else he does, he is fully invested in this
city-wide project.
The Road Ahead
By 2009, Walter had
built the prestige of
HealthCare Chaplaincy
to the point where
national associations
paid tribute to the
contributions of
Chaplaincy’s staff
members. “HealthCare
Chaplaincy’s
professional staff have made significant and lasting
contributions to the Association of Professional
Chaplains,” said its past president, the Rev. Sue
Wintz. “Much of our leadership has been nurtured
through HealthCare Chaplaincy,” said National
Association of Jewish Chaplains president Cecille
Asekoff.
The National Association of Catholic Chaplains
executive director David A. Lichter, D. Min., said
“HealthCare Chaplaincy remains the gold standard
of research and advocacy on behalf of
professional chaplaincy.”
In 2010 HealthCare Chaplaincy began the
celebration of its golden jubilee year – an annus
jubilaeus.
The following year, the Arthur Vining Davis
Foundations awarded an important grant to
HealthCare Chaplaincy to develop and beta-test
the first sub-specialty training curriculum for
chaplains. This important initiative will provide
professional chaplains with the specialized skills
they need to deal competently with the challenges
of modern palliative care delivery.
Over the years Walter had built the performance
and prestige of the Chaplaincy’s research
department to the point that in the Fall of 2011 the
John Templeton Foundation awarded Chaplaincy
more than $3M, the largest grant in its 50-year
history, to revolutionize research in chaplaincy care
in palliative care.
Walter has built an organization that stands as an
international leader in the research, education and
practice of multifaith spiritual care and palliative
care. It provides professional chaplaincy services
in 15 hospitals in metro New York. Over the years
its professional chaplains, from every faith
tradition, have helped nearly 6 million patients,
loved ones and hospital staff—regardless of
religion or beliefs—find meaning, hope, comfort,
forgiveness and inner peace.
And perhaps Walter’s capstone legacy is the
creation of the National Center for Palliative Care
Innovation, a demonstration project in meaningcentered
palliative care. Through the work of the
Center, residents will live out their final months and
years fully and well. This Center will become a
primary fellowship training site for future palliative
care doctors, nurses, social workers and chaplains.
And it will also be a hub for clinical research that will
advance both science and practice.
It’s been a long journey from that fateful day when
a young undergraduate student stood before the
dean of his college and, trembling, heard the
words, “I think you might have a vocation.”
Ad multos annos.

What Others Say About Walter J. Smith, S.J.
Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein, Senior Rabbi, Central
Synagogue
“Father Walter Smith is an extraordinary human
being who emanates relentless compassion, a
radiant smile and the ability to make the life of every
person with whom his path intersects better and
brighter. I remember well when it was announced
that Walter (as his friend I need to relinquish both
our claims on clerical “titles”) would head the Health
Care Chaplaincy. I could not have imagined that he
would have embraced the task with such incredible
fundraising skills (not often a natural attribute of
clergy), fierce devotion, and impeccable and brilliant
vision. He has done this and more.
“But above all else Walter is a constant,
courageous, and unfaltering friend to the Jewish
community, to me and to so many other colleagues
and lay people who accept him as a gift in our lives
and community.”
Catherine Rein, Former Senior Executive Vice
President & Chief Administrative Officer,
MetLife, Inc.
“Not surprisingly, I met Father Walter at an amazing
meal he prepared at a friend’s home. We have
shared many good times over the years (I even got
brave enough to cook for him, thanks to his
generous spirit, not my culinary skill).
“Without being asked he travelled to Pennsylvania
to officiate at my father’s funeral, a treasured
memory my whole family will never forget.
“I have also learned from his gentle but profound
wisdom. Once I was having difficulties with a
colleague over what I felt was a petty matter. Father
Walter reminded me of how a tiny pebble in your
shoe can ruin a beautiful day or divert you from
important matters. I took his advice and resolved
the “petty” issue, not only ending the controversy
but making a lifelong friend. I’ve let that pebble
guide me ever since both personally and
professionally and it never fails.”
Michael Steinhardt, Chairman, The Steinhardt
Foundation for Jewish Life
“Walter, who alas, I don’t see as often as I would
like, is one of my heroes. He is warm, intelligent,
productive and good like few others. Rumor has it
that he cooks well, too, but I have not experienced
that. Whenever one is with Walter, one comes away
with a smile. He has been put on this earth to
genuinely make people happy, and he succeeds.”
The Rev. Canon John Andrew, O.B.E., D.D.,
Rector Emeritus of St. Thomas Church
“My church had long supported the Chaplaincy. I
knew and greatly admired Walter’s predecessor.
He proposed coming to see me. Immediately I
liked him for his directness and humor, and as he
outlined his hopes and ‘made the vision plain,’ as
the scriptures say, I realized that this man had
unusual gifts of imagination and organization. And
so it has proved.
“Walter has become one of my closest priestfriends,
whom I hold in deep respect for his wisdom
and capacity for caring. We are fortunate to have
him as guide, motivator and enabler.”
Tobi Aaron Kahn, Artist
Walter has been my mentor and friend since we met
over 15 years ago. In the image of the Creator,
Walter has a steward’s understanding of the
relationship between holiness, art and healing. The
meditative space I was honored to create for the
HealthCare Chaplaincy under his discerning
guidance and sanction is among the most significant
acts of my life as an artist and religious person.

The Susan L. Fischer Meditation Room
at HealthCare Chaplaincy - by Tobi Kahn
John Dyson, Chairman, Milbrook Capital
Management Inc., Former NYC Deputy Mayor
for Economic Development & Finance, Vice-
Chairman of the New York Power Authority
Board of Trustees
“Walter’s humanity and cheer for life is what shines
through the first time I met him and ever since. His
warm heart, lively somewhat impish sense of
humor, and a deep intelligence have made all times
in his company a pleasure. He has serenity that
only true men of God have.”
Howard Sharfstein, Partner at Schulte, Roth &
Zabel, LLP
“How can one breakfast change a life In the Fall of
2000, a friend (who was then on the Board of HCC)
invited me to a breakfast at The Chaplaincy. I sat
next to a Catholic priest, who introduced himself as
“Walter”. We spoke, and every word of our
conversation connected with my heart and soul. I
had just completed a difficult course of treatment
(radiation, high dose chemo and a stem cell
transplant) at Memorial Sloan Kettering to deal with a
recurrence of non-hodgkins lymphoma. Our
conversation brought me back to the hospital visits
by a chaplain at MSK during my many months of
isolation for the transplant. The chaplain simply
wanted to talk with me. He had unlimited time to
discuss what was true for me at that difficult time,
my fears, my hopes. At the breakfast, Walter
listened to my story (he was my chaplain at that
moment in time) and suggested, so discreetly, that
perhaps chaplaincy could be part of my life
experience. I looked into CPE classes, enrolled in
two at HCC, and I have earned one and one-half
units of CPE credit. I served with pride and
satisfaction as a member of the Board of Trustees.
Most importantly, I came to know Walter Smith, a
man who changed my life. He taught me how to
truly listen, not just hear. He enriched my ability to
care, to serve those in need. He created my selfawareness
and he continues to support my long
term goal of one day being commissioned as a
chaplain. Walter is a visionary like no other I know.
The Wholeness of Life Center will become a reality
because of Walter. He has blessed so many lives,
including mine. Let me close by saying I have just
read Walter’s Passover letter. Each Jewish holiday,
he sends my wife and myself a beautiful letter,
reminding us of the special messages and meanings
of Jewish and Christian holidays and observances.
Yet another special blessing, from a wonderful man.
I congratulate Walter, and thank him for having
breakfast with me and for being part of my life. With
undying admiration and love, Howard.”
Lucy Flemming McGrath
“Walter J. Smith, S.J. and I met years ago through
a dear friend, Thelma Dinkeloo.
“Later I was asked to become a member of the
Board of Trustees of the HealthCare Chaplaincy. I
identified with the organization’s mission and its
challenges. I became a dedicated advocate, and
remain so. In a short time Walter became president
of the Chaplaincy. He had served with the admirable
Co-Presidents Carolyn and John Twiname.
“Now for a long time I have been closely observing
my friend Walter, marveling at the many facets of
his personality, his vision, his ingenuity and his
accomplishments. It is time to rejoice in those
accomplishments.
“Walter, as long as you serve, no matter where life
takes you, may you continue in all your wisdom to
flourish. For my part I shall continue to toast you
and to cherish our friendship.”

Tom Rochon, President, Ithaca College
“Sometimes one is privileged to encounter a life
that is whole. A life that has structural integrity
between its parts. A life in which every aspect of
the formative, the professional and the personal
seems to be connected to some greater purpose.
Father Walter Smith is such a person.”
“Walter has been a mentor and an inspiration to
me since the day we met during my interview for
the presidency of Ithaca College. He brings to our
Board of Trustees the same traits he brings to
every commitment in his life: broad vision and an
unquenchable optimism that great results will
follow from great ideas.
“It is because of his ability to raise our sights that
Walter is one of our most influential trustees. He
speaks quietly but with a decisiveness and clarity
that engages our mission as a college, and
through our mission reaches both our hearts and
our minds.
“Once in a while, you encounter someone in person
whose demeanor and insights leave you in awe.
“Think how rarely those two traits are found in the
same person! That is Walter Smith.”
Doctor Harlan J. Weschler, Founding Rabbi of
Congregation Or Zarua
“You have served not only the community but the
Lord with such leadership and such distinction.
Naomi and I rejoice with you and for you. You are
a great shepherd of His flock, one who has guided
and continues to guide with extraordinary skill.
May you be blessed with good health and many
more years of joyful service!
We salute you with reverence and with honor.”
Norman Lamm, Chancellor, Yeshiva University
“Walter, you are a very special and wise man –
and blessed with a lovely as well as profound
personality!”
Carolyn and the Rev. John Twiname, Former
Co-presidents, HealthCare Chaplaincy
“The Chaplaincy's first strategic plan provided for
an Executive Vice President as part of a plan for
leadership succession, and Walter was chosen in
1991. He made his first impact on us with his
credentials: authored two books on end-of-life
care; three Master's Degrees; conversational in at
least three languages (plus Latin) and can play the
piano and organ. Walter took to the job like a fish
to water, including the daunting task of asking for
money!
“Walter quite naturally assumed the Presidency
after two years as COO, making a great impact on
us by freeing us from the 24/7 job we had filled for
ten years. When Walter took the reins, we, in
effect, became his assistants. We learned how
disciplined a Jesuit could be, as well as how
open-minded he could be in respecting other
faiths - a great trait for a theologically sophisticated
leader of The Chaplaincy. People marveled at his
eloquent letters and how he continued to grow
The Chaplaincy.
“Walter makes another impact when he assumes
the role of chaplain, himself. He has provided
wise counsel to many patients, medical staff
members, trustees and to friends, among them us
as he took our unsteady grandson under his wing
- for which we will always be grateful.”
Terry Goodwin, Chairman of the Board of
Quinnipiac University
Walter has been the spiritual guide in my life and
my family’s life. Walter has confirmed me into the
Roman Catholic faith. He has married, buried,
confirmed, christened, and consoled so many in
our “extended” family. Always there to celebrate
or console.
Being with Walter is like celebrating Easter no
matter the time of year. He is, in so many ways, a
symbol of the “new Spring”, the rebirth, the hope!
And, he is the perfect definition of FRIEND……

Daniel R. Tishman, Chairman and CEO of
Tishman Construction, Vice Chair of AECOM
“Father Smith is quite possibly the most convincing
quiet man in the world – as a priest, caregiver, and
even as a fundraiser. He has advanced the
concept of palliative care in a way that no one else
has and his effective leadership has made him the
premier expert in the field. He is universally admired
– and for good reason, he is an absolute mensch!”
Sibyl Jacobson, Former President and CEO,
MetLife Foundation and Frank Rosiny, Attorney
“How do you measure it —
50 years as a Jesuit;
In weddings and wakes,
Soufflés and cakes;
In babies and baptisms;
Homilies and catechisms;
In communion and masses,
Or wine-filled glasses;
In sermons and prayers,
Confessions and cares;
In death and in life,
In joy or in strife;
However it's measured,
You have been treasured;
Our unfailing friend, Father Smith”
Sister Elaine Goodell, Chaplain, Memorial Sloan-
Kettering Cancer Center
“Along with the many God-given leadership abilities,
gifts and talents, which Walter has used optimally, I
admire him for his compassion and care for the sick
who are dealing with multiple issues. In my relationship
with Walter, I have admired the fact that he has
never hesitated a mili-second at a request for him, in
his priestly role, to visit a patient with a spiritual
issue; a request to him has never been regarded as
an imposition. I have tried to incorporate that
stance (immediately responding) in my own ministry
as a chaplain at memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center. I am greatly indebted to Walter for the untold
peace and joy he has brought to patients’ lives.”
Jack Rudin, Chairman, Rudin Management
Company, Inc.
“To my friend Walter,
“Over the past 25 years, it has been an honor to
call you my friend. Your work at the HealthCare
Chaplaincy is respected by all who know you and
have worked with you. Susan and I congratulate
you and will never forget our wonderful trip to
Rome together. We wish you only the best.”
Benefactors Jack Rudin and Mary and Laurance S.
Rockefeller join Fr. Smith for the dedication of the
Chaplaincy’s new program and administrative building in
March 1996.
Steve De Nitto, husband of a patient
“Recently, because of a cancer diagnosis, my wife
and I found ourselves in Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. I believe God sent us an angel in
the form of Sister Elaine Goodell. After I told her
my story, she said she wanted me to meet her
friend, Father Walter Smith. The next day she
showed up telling us we had an appointment with
Father Walter and not to let the doctors schedule
any test for that time.
“At the appointed time, Sister Elaine and Father
Walter arrived. I thought he was going to say the
usual ‘priestly things’ and try to make us feel better.
Boy was I wrong!
“Father Walter took to heart my prior problems and
current situation. My wife and I feel very blessed to
have found Father Walter and we will be forever
grateful to him for what he has done for us.”

Emanuel Chirico, Chairman & Chief Executive
Officer, PVH Corporation
Fr. Smith, pictured with 2008
Wholeness of Life award recipient,
Manny Chirico.
“There are
certain people
that are put here
on earth to help
the rest of us
navigate
through life.
These wise
souls are there
to guide us
through our
failures and sad
times with
compassion
and words of
comfort. They
are there when we are challenged and tested by
life, helping us get through these hurdles with
thoughtful advice. And, they are there to celebrate
our successes and good times, always gently
reminding us that, “…..To whom much is given,
much is required”. Father Walter Smith is one of
these wise souls, one of these special people—
always present with a strong shoulder, a warm
embrace or a thoughtful word of encouragement.
“Walter, you have always been there for me –
making the bad times more tolerable, the
challenging times more understandable, and the
good times more fulfilling.”
William G. Spears, Chairman, CEO and
Co-Founder of Spears Abacus Advisors
“Walter has been with me for both the saddest
and happiest moments of my life over more than
three decades. A sensitive pastor, advisor, friend,
confidant, his influence has been profound. His
words at my late wife’s funeral and his ability to
officiate beautifully and with great sensitivity when
he married Maria and me at the HealthCare
Chaplaincy more than nine years ago have made
an enormous difference to my life experience. It
was a pleasure also to serve on the HealthCare
Chaplaincy Board and as Chairman as the
organization evolved according to his visionary
dream. I offer heartfelt congratulations to Walter
as he celebrates 50 years as a Jesuit! I want him
to know how very much his personal involvement
and caring interest in my life have meant and
continue to mean to me.”
Sam Klagsbrun, MD, Executive Medical Director,
Four Winds
“I continue to feel that what you have created is
the best clinical/spiritual program ever!”
The Rev. Myles N. Sheehan, SJ, MD, Provincial,
Society of Jesus of New England
“I have known Walter for as long as I have been a
Jesuit and our paths have crossed many times
though we have mostly worked in different
places. But, as someone who has spent most of
his adult life as a doctor, a medical school dean,
and a specialist in geriatrics, I have a keen
appreciation of how much Walter’s work has
accomplished in revolutionizing the provision of
pastoral care for men and women who have
come to New York’s hospitals at the most
vulnerable and spiritually sensitive moments in
their lives.
“As a Jesuit, and as his current religious superior,
I also have a deep admiration for the very Ignatian
combination of compassion for the needy and
practical resourcefulness and creativity that he
has brought to his lifelong ministry.
“I offer him my prayers on this happy occasion!”
Rabbi Dr. Ronald B. Sobel, Senior Rabbi
Emeritus, Congregation Emanu-El
“You have created the paradigm for hospital
chaplaincy not only in America, but around the
world.
“You are a gift from God to the human family.”

on December 11, 1898 the Roman Catholic Church
of st. ignatius Loyola was dedicated by the Most
Reverend Michael Corrigan, third archbishop of
new York. The parish was entrusted to the care of
the society of Jesus in 1866 and marked the
Jesuits’ first major apostolate in the Yorkville
area of new York. Replacing a modest brick
building dating to 1853 which replaced an even
more modest wooden structure built in 1852, the
present grand limestone edifice stands as
testimony to both the growing affluence and
confidence of the Catholic community on new
York’s Upper East side near the turn of the
century as well as the ambitious determination of
fr. neil Mckinnon, s.J., pastor of the parish from
1893-1907.
st. ignatius Church was designed by schickel and Ditmars. Two unbroken vertical
orders, a Palladian arched window, and a tri-part horizontal division suggesting the
central nave and side aisles beyond, lend a classical balance to the Park avenue
exterior. Yet st. ignatius’ façade is not static; the central division raised in slight
relief beyond the side divisions and the varying intervals between the symmetrically
positioned pilasters (columns that are not free standing) create a subtly undulating
dynamism that introduces a note of syncopated rhythm reminiscent of the exterior of
il gesù, the Jesuits’ mother church in Rome. The original plans for the street front
of st. ignatius, presently 90 feet high and 87 feet wide, included a pair of towers
designed to reach 210 feet above the ground, but this feature of the project was
abandoned early, leaving only the two copper-capped tower bases on either side of the
central pediment as hints of the grander scheme. Located directly beneath this
pediment are the motto of the society of Jesus, ad Majorem Dei gloriam (To the greater
glory of god) and the great seal of the society, composed of a cross, three nails, and
the letters i h s (the first three letters of Jesus’ name in greek which later became
a Latin acronym denoting Jesus the savior of humankind); together they proclaim to all
who pass by that st. ignatius is a Jesuit Parish.