1996 – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Born and educated in New York, Maureen Smith can boast of a number of entrepreneurial firsts. Not only was she one of the first involved in pizza delivery (1940s) but she and her father established the first beeper system in the U.S. Dr. Smith attended St. John’s University Law School and then joined her family’s business. Moving to Florida in the early fifties, the beeper company soon evolved into her own communications company in Miami. Later her family bought a communications business in Wisconsin as well as her father’s Cleveland Telephone Answering Service and started Airbeep, Incorporated. In 1982 they partnered with the Washington Post to found Cellular One. An active volunteer leader, since 1979 she has been a major force In the development of Northwood’s Florida campus, serving on its Board of Governors and as a longtime chair of the Ft. Lauderdale chapter of the Northwood National Women’s Board & Friends. She has both contributed and helped to obtain many donor scholarships and has a long-standing special interest in the development of the University’s library. Maureen Smith serves on the Northwood University Board of Trustees, where she chairs the Advancement Committee. In 1991 she received the Doctor of Humanities from Northwood for her outstanding commitment to the University. Dr. Smith has been very supportive of the Girl Scouts, Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, The Ann Stork Center and is an honorary alumnus of Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale, serving on its board of directors. She is also a member of St. Anthony’s Foundation, the Federated Women’s Club and the Coral Ridge Women’s Club. Internationally she has assisted in the advancement of Girl Scouts in Ireland. Dr. Smith and her husband, David, reside in Ft. Lauderdale and have three daughters and two grandsons who share her great interest in basketball and baseball. She established the Stephen Smith Endowed Scholarship fund at Northwood University in memory of her only son, who passed away in 1988.
