Jay Wesley Smith

All of us can only aspire to be a good of a person and physician as Jay Smith. He was a legend, and he is missed by all of us.

I am confident that I speak for many interns, residents, and medical students who would also be writing a similar entry here if they knew Jay had passed. He was one of the finest, a role model for medicine that we carried with us for many decades after leaving our training. He personally contributed to the very best of the University of Arizona medical center years and will be sorely missed.

Dear Jay, it has been my privilege to have known you for the last 40 years. I will always remember and appreciate how, way back in 1983, when I first came to Tucson to attend the U of A (all the way from the tiny island of Malta !) - I met Shannon through tennis, and then what a pleasure it was to meet and get to know you and Sandy. Our friendship deepened over those college years, I enjoyed and appreciated so many kind invitations not only to delicious evening dinners with your family, but...

Dear Sandy, My sincere condolences to you, your daughters and family. You will not likely remember me, but I was the nurse manager at FPO when you were there for a while, perhaps in the 70s or early 80s? I truly admired you and your kind and professional manner with patients. It seems that you and Jay enjoyed a good life together...lovely. Wishing you peace, Sally (Heinisch) Mettler

I had Jay as a facilitator/mentor for our small group of medical students. He was a kind and insightful man that shared his philosophical approach to medicine and, more importantly, shared his mistakes so that we wouldn't be prone to repeat them. My condolences to his family and friends.

One of the very best physicians I have known in my long career. Also, a wonderful caring and empathetic human being. Joseph Alpert

I met Jay at Club Camera and was impressed by his images. I also saw a show he had at St. Phillips of Colorado Aspens that was arresting. I knew he spent a lot of time with the subject and he had to be connected to nature to create these images. At Club Camera I shared an image and the judge panned it. Jay came up to me afterwards and told me to resubmit the image because it was a good image. As one of the best photographers in the club, I was touched by this remark and did...

Dearest Sandy, Shawn and Shannon, I am so sorry for your loss. Jay was always to friendly and kind to me. I remember him with great fondness. ~Connie Bell