January 29, 2001

$1 MILLION GIFT FROM BOB SMITH, M.D. FOUNDATION TO PROVIDE AUDITORIUM IN NEW MEADOWS MUSEUM AT SMU

DALLAS (SMU) -- A gift of $1 million from Bob Smith, M.D. Foundation will provide an auditorium in the new Meadows Museum, now under construction at Southern Methodist University. The auditorium will be known as the Dr. Bob and Jean Smith Auditorium in honor of the foundation's chair and vice chair, respectively.

"Dr. Bob Smith exemplifies the generous spirit of SMU alumni who contribute to a variety of university projects," said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. "His support includes gifts to the SMU Annual Fund, the new Dedman Life Sciences Building and now this important component of the Meadows Museum, which will provide enrichment opportunities for museum visitors. Dr. Smith is one of those people who gives where the need is greatest, and we are grateful to him and his family for their foresight and generosity."

The Smith Auditorium will be used for educational programming and events related to the museum's special exhibitions, as well as small-scale music, dance and theatre performances. The 111-seat oval-shaped auditorium will have the latest audio-visual and electronic media equipment for slide, video and film presentations. Located on the main level of the museum, the auditorium will be directly accessible from the education area, which will include an orientation room, studio, seminar room and distance-learning studio.

Meadows Dean Carole Brandt said, "The Smith Auditorium is an intimate, warm and beautiful space, designed to teach about art, present the arts and celebrate the community of artists and audiences of the arts."

The new Meadows Museum will double the exhibition space for the internationally acclaimed Meadows Museum Collection, one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. Museum holdings also include a group of works by major 20th-century European and American sculptors. In addition to expanded exhibition space, the new museum will significantly expand facilities for research and for educational and public programming through facilities including the Smith Auditorium.

The new freestanding museum, which opens to the public on March 25, will be located on Bishop Boulevard just north of Mockingbird Lane. It will replace the present museum, which opened in 1965 as part of a new arts center at SMU. The new museum of approximately 66,000 square feet will be six times larger than the present museum. In addition to exhibition and event spaces, it will include a museum shop and restaurant. An underground parking garage for 500 cars will provide convenient access for museum visitors.

The Meadows Museum and its distinguished collection were developed through the generosity and dedication of the late Algur H. Meadows of Dallas. The Meadows Foundation has continued to support the museum through the years and, most recently, provided $20 million for design and construction of the new building.

Dr. Smith is one of the many outstanding graduates of SMU's pre-medical program. He earned two degrees from SMU and an M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Co-founder of Doctors Hospital and Doctors Nursing Center in Dallas, he now serves on the boards of Zale Lipshy University Hospital and Southwestern Medical Foundation.

Bob Smith, M.D. Foundation was established in 1989 and is now among the 20 largest foundations in the Dallas area. The Smith Foundation has given more than $10 million in support of medical and educational causes, including million-dollar gifts to SMU, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Baylor University Medical Center and Children's Medical Center. Also committed to improving safety and quality of life in the community, the Smith Foundation has provided funding for agencies such as the Dallas Crime Commission, American Red Cross, United Way, The Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity, as well as libraries, museums and many other social service and outreach programs.

Dr. Smith currently serves SMU as a member of the Dedman College Executive Board and the Texas Committee of The Campaign for SMU. He received the university's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1995 and served on the SMU Board of Trustees from 1992 to 1996. His wife, Jean, has served on the Board of Directors of SMU's Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series.

Dr. and Mrs. Smith and the Smith Foundation have given SMU a cumulative total of more than $5.4 million, of which $2.5 million has been directed to the SMU Annual Fund, supporting general operating costs of the university. A Smith Foundation gift of $1 million in 1999 will provide the Bob Smith, M.D. Foundation Pre-Medical Studies Center in the Dedman Life Sciences Building, now under construction at SMU.

The Smith family ties with SMU span three generations. Dr. Smith's father, the late Dr. Edgar Smith, attended the university in its early years. All five children of Dr. Bob and Jean Smith are SMU graduates.

The Smith gifts for the museum auditorium and the pre-medical studies center count toward SMU's $400 million capital campaign launched in 1997. This five-year campaign is the most ambitious fund-raising effort in the university's history, with the largest goal ever sought by an institution in North Texas. The campaign seeks endowment and other support to continue strengthening the quality of students, faculty, academic programs and selected facilities at SMU.