Thomas J. Smith, professor emeritus of chemistry, has died at age 77. He taught at Kalamazoo College for four decades and was highly regarded for both his scholarship and mentorship of aspiring chemists. During his tenure, he directed the Senior Integrated Projects of more than 70 students and helped build K’s reputation for exceptional undergraduate science.
He joined the faculty at K in 1978 and retired in 2018 as the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry. He served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University in 1988 and as a visiting professor at the Institut Le Bel, Université Louis Pasteur in France in 1995. His research centered on the synthesis and characterization of transition metal complexes exhibiting metal-metal interactions, and his publication record was extensive, including articles in the journals Inorganic Chemistry, Inorganica Chimica Acta and Polyhedron.
The importance of his research was nationally recognized, as evidenced by grant support from the National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society and Research Corporation. Smith was an active member of the Council on Undergraduate Research, serving on its Grants and Scholarships Committee and Chemistry Fellowship Selection Committee. Through that work, he secured a three-year, $30,000 grant from Eli Lilly and Co. to support fellowships for K students in biology, chemistry and physics. He was also named a Dreyfus Teaching Fellow, an honor that came with a $5,000 grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, which he used to bring a Parchment high school teacher into his lab for summer research alongside him.
His teaching and scholarship drew equal recognition at K. First-year students named him an Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society Favorite Teacher 13 times. He received the Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for outstanding scholarship in 1990, along with the Dr. Winthrop S. and Lois A. Hudson Award for outstanding contributions in research.
For many alumni, his influence extended well beyond the laboratory. He had a gift for identifying students bound for graduate study, understanding their strengths and passions and setting each firmly on a path for life after K.
At the time of his retirement, alumni and friends celebrated this legacy by endowing the Thomas J. Smith Student Research Fellowship in Chemistry. The effort was led by Chris Bodurow ’79 and Bob Weinstein ’79, both members of the first class Smith taught. The fellowship supports an initiative that was close to Smith’s heart: independent summer research alongside K faculty.
Smith earned a bachelor’s degree from Illinois Benedictine College and a Ph.D. from Purdue University. He was a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 1976 to 1978.
A memorial service will be held on October 17, 2026, from 2:30–4:30 p.m. in the Olmsted Room of Mandelle Hall at Kalamazoo College.