Jay Wesley Smith

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Johns Hopkins University University of Arizona

Jay Smith Obituary

Jay Wesley Smith, M.D., died on February 2, 2024, at his home in Tucson at the age of 87. He was born June 11, 1936, in Pocatello, Idaho, to Jack and Pearl Smith. He graduated Valedictorian from Pocatello High School in 1954, and then attended Columbia College in New York where he graduated cum laude. At Columbia he met his wife, Sandy, and together they moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Jay earned a medical degree, cum laude, from Washington University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, where as Chief Resident he edited the nineteenth edition of the Manual of Medical Therapeutics. He then served two years in the US Public Health Service as an epidemic intelligence service officer at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jay spent four years in Phoenix, as chairman of medicine and then program director of internal medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. After moving to Tucson, he became program director of the internal medicine residency program and section head of general internal medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. In 1981 he was granted a sabbatical and served as an honorary consulting physician at the John Radcliffe Hospital at Oxford University, England. For almost thirty years at the University of Arizona, he enjoyed his role as a professor of medicine, teaching medical students, mentoring interns and residents, and caring for patients. He received ten teaching awards from medical students and alumni, as well as the American College of Physicians for Arizona Distinguished Teacher Award. For the last nine years of his career he held the position of Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Jay was an avid fisherman and photographer and loved spending time outdoors with Sandy and his daughters, Shawn and Shannon. Sandy and Jay traveled extensively in retirement. Jay's memory will be cherished by Sandy, Shawn and her partner, Joe, Shannon and her husband, Derek, and their two daughters, Haley and Dylan.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Arizona Daily Star from Feb. 14 to Feb. 18, 2024.

Memories and Condolences
for Jay Smith

9 Entries

Kevin Moynahan

May 22, 2024

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.

Joseph Alpert

Planted Trees

Jamie Kroeger

April 3, 2024

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.

Katherine Camilleri

March 2, 2024

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 also to join you on an amazing Grand Canyon hike, on a wonderful camping trip to Mexico... special memories, unforgettable experiences of a lifetime, that I shared with such joy, with you..

And in the years that followed my college graduation I returned many times to Tucson, a place that became very special to me. Even on my honeymoon, which sparked a new dimension to our friendship because Paul too immediately felt a warm and strong bond with both of you, and this allowed us to meet all together many times after that - both in Tucson, also with our children, and here in Belgium when you visited us, on a trip to Europe. Wonderful, wonderful memories over so many years.. Paul always talks about how you bonded over country music , and Don Williams in particular .

Jay, you and Sandy are without question among the most important and special people to have been a part of my life. Your humility, your soft spoken and gentle ways, your lovely smile, your sense of humour, your broad knowledge and intelligence, your varied interests and skills... So many qualities, I am so very grateful and humbled to have had both you and Sandy in my life. With great fondness and affection, I will always remember you, Jay.

Dearest Sandy, Shannon and Shawn, wonderful friends; my most sincere condolences, from Paul and the children too. A big hug to you all.

Sally Mettler

February 18, 2024

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

Mitchell Halter

February 18, 2024

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.

Joseph Alpert

February 15, 2024

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

Beth McCullough Russell

February 14, 2024

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 what he said. He was right!. He impressed me as a dear fine man, which reminded me of my father, a southern gentleman. His wonderful face was heart-warming.

I am sad for all of us and especially his family. My love to all of you.

(I wish I knew you better!)

Connie Bell

February 14, 2024

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

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