Roberts Smith

Roberts “Bob” Smith, UCLA professor emeritus of biochemistry who was one of the original group of biochemistry faculty in what was then the chemistry department, died January 25 following a brief illness. He was 89.

Professor Smith joined the UCLA faculty in 1958 as an assistant professor. He rose quickly through the ranks at UCLA, becoming a full professor in 1968. Smith published more than 85 papers in his career and directed the doctoral theses of 22 students. Professor Smith was known as an engaging teacher and beloved colleague in the department. He retired from the faculty in 1987 but kept active in departmental activities. 

In 2009, the Roberts A. Smith Graduate Award for the Study of Biochemistry was established with an endowment from funds contributed both by Professor Smith and his wife, Adela, and in his honor by his former student Dr. Atsuko Fujimoto and her husband Akira Fujimoto. Atsuko Fujimoto joined Professor Smith’s laboratory shortly after he arrived at UCLA and remembered him as a young and energetic professor. She was his first graduate student and one of the very first women to get a Ph.D. in biochemistry in the department.

Professor Smith was born in Vancouver, Canada on December 22, 1928 and received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in microbiology from the University of British Columbia in 1952 and 1953. He then came to the United States to join the biochemistry doctoral program at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, working with the renowned biochemist Irwin Gunsalus. Professor Smith received his doctorate in 1957, and then stayed on at Illinois a year as an instructor before coming to UCLA.

At UCLA, Professor Smith quickly established a vigorous research program in biochemistry that focused on cancer biology and the biological uses of phosphorous-nitrogen linkages. In 1960, he was asked to join the board of directors of ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which soon after became a public company on the New York Stock Exchange. In this role, Professor Smith was instrumental in the development of the anti-viral drug ribavirin, a medication now on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.

In 2008, Smith was inducted into the Comox Valley Walk of Achievement in British Columbia for his work in drug discovery. He was cited for helping to save thousands of lives over the years by pioneering the anti-viral field with the discovery of the broad spectrum nucleoside analog ribavirin now used to treat respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis C and viral hemorrhagic fever.