For Dale Smith, RPh (BSP '75), member of the Pharmacy Foundation Board of Directors, it’s incredibly rewarding to give back to the UMKC School of Pharmacy since it has given him so much in his life. “We grew up in poverty,” Smith said. “My dad would say things like ‘A college education isn't for our kind.’”

Smith’s mom was the first of her family to graduate high school and his dad quit school after the eighth grade. Smith understood how that would affect their view of school. For him, education provided him the way to grow out of that poverty. Smith was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam as a pharmacist. When he came back, he utilized the GI Bill to finish his pharmacy degree at UMKC, and he couldn’t be prouder. “I’m so thankful for my degree from the UMKC School of Pharmacy,” Smith said, “that I’ve always wanted to give back.” For many years, that meant giving his time by serving on different committees in support of the school. As he and his wife, Andrea, got closer to retirement, they decided they needed to give back financially as well. That’s when the couple established the Andrea and Dale Smith, RPh Scholarship in 2021 to assist doctor of pharmacy students in their first, second or third year of studies. In recent years, Dale has made annual gifts to the scholarship using qualified charitable distributions from his retirement accounts. They plan to continue doing so to fund the scholarship to its intended total of $100,000.

“It’s so rewarding getting to meet the student recipients at the awards ceremony and see the young people who we are actually helping, while giving something back to the profession of pharmacy itself,” Smith said. “I’m grateful to know that I am leaving this legacy.”