Throughout his lifetime of work, Dr. Smith fostered the application of science to agriculture.

Dr. Larry Smith was born in Regina and attended Brandon College where he was the recipient of the Governor General’s Medal. Following graduation from the Ontario Veterinary College, he spent his career demonstrating the importance of research and graduate study in relation to veterinary education. From 1950 to 1953, he undertook a Ph.D. program in pathology at Cornell University. After returning to OVC, Dr. Smith became head of the Department of Bacteriology, and 10 years later, head of the new Department of Pathology and Bacteriology. He was the first Canadian to become a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, by examination.

In 1963, Dr. Smith became the founding Dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, and implemented policies that quickly established this college as a strong and progressive institution. A superb administrator, he secured the complete and unprecedented cost sharing of veterinary education among the western provinces served by the college. Under his leadership, a Toxicology Research Centre was established at the University of Saskatchewan.

Dr. Smith contributed significantly to Canada’s international development program. He visited Uganda to assist in the formation of a veterinary college, became leader of a project undertaken by the University of Guelph in Malaysia, and in 1980 led a CIDA-sponsored University of Saskatchewan project at the Somali National University.

In recognition of his many accomplishments, Larry Smith was the first recipient of the Schofield Medal in 1970, a year in which he also received the highly-prized St. Eloi Medal by L’Ordre des Médecins Vétérinaires du Québec.