James Smith (founder)
James Ernest Smith (1881–1973) was the founder of the National Radio Institute in Washington D.C., which trained 1.5 million students through home study over its 88-year history. Smith was born on February 3, 1881, in Rochester, New Hampshire. He held a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (B.S.E.E., 1906) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and began his career at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh, but he took an extended leave of absence in 1907 to teach what remained in the term of an applied electricity course at McKinley Manual Training School (moved in 1926 to its present location in Washington, D.C., and now known as McKinley Technology High School) for a colleague who had become ill. It went well and Smith was offered a permanent position at the school, which he accepted. After a while, students began coming to him for private formal instruction. The National Radio School began with a small classroom set up for four students inside the U. S. Savings Bank Building at 14th and U Street N.W. in Washington. Additional students quickly began to seek enrollment. Smith continued teaching at McKinley until 1918, when he devoted his time fully to the National Radio School.
James E. Smith had two daughters, Marjory and Carol, and one son, James Morrsion (who went by his middle name). The family resided in McLean, Virginia, on the banks of the Potomac River. James E. Smith held honorary doctorates from WPI, Southeastern University, and Brevard Engineering College (now the Florida Institute of Technology). In 1956, Smith retired as president of NRI and handed the role over to his son, James Morrison Smith (1916–2010), also a graduate of WPI (B.S.I.E., 1937). James E. Smith died on September 30, 1973, at his home in Virginia.
Through the years, James E. Smith, his son Morrison, and his grandson Michael M. Galbraith (B.S., 1958, WPI), were generous benefactors to charitable causes, including their alma mater. In their lifetimes, they donated, in totality, over one million dollars to WPI through the Macamor Foundation, which Smith established in the mid-1950's to continue all of his philanthropic interests after his death. The foundation's name was derived from the first syllables of Smith's three children's names. As of 2015, Smith's great granddaughter (Morrison's granddaughter) served as the trustee/administrator of the Macamor Foundation, now based in South Carolina. In 1955, Smith also established the National Radio Institute Charitable Trust, which contributed regularly to charitable, religious, and educational purposes while it was in existence. An additional career education plan was set up for NRI employees, which paid full tuition costs for further education in fields related to their work.