Donor Profile - Lessie Smithgal

In her freshman year at the University of Georgia, Lessie Smithgall attended the first football contest ever played at Sanford Stadium, still known as the dedication game. Today, still savvy and sharp-witted at age 97, Mrs. Smithgall credits UGA with launching her to an amazing life. She and her late husband, Charles A. Smithgall, Jr., built a Georgia media empire and then made conservation and philanthropy the Smithgall family trademark.

Although Mrs. Smithgall's contributions to the university and the University of Georgia Foundation are legendary, she is perhaps best known for arranging a meeting that led to the creation of the hallmark Peabody Awards in broadcasting. She downplays her role, but published reports document that she arranged for Lambdin Kay, then her boss at WSB radio in Atlanta, to meet with John Drewry, her mentor and the first dean of UGA's School of Journalism. The meeting in Atlanta's Biltmore Hotel led to the first Peabody awards ceremony in 1941.

After marrying Charles Smithgall in 1934, the couple moved to Gainesville where they started a radio station and then co-founded the Gainesville Daily Times. The Smithgall's media companies eventually included several newspapers and radio stations, among them the well-known WRNG ("Ring Radio").

After retirement, the Smithgalls began a mammoth undertaking that Mrs. Smithgall called "Charlie's project." He amassed more than 5,600 acres of land near Helen and worked for five years to restore the mountain paradise by planting thousands of indigenous trees. In 1994, he sold what is now the Smithgall Woods Conservation Area to the state for half its assessed value. More recently, another 165 acre tract in Gainesville is being transformed into the Smithgall Woodland Gardens by the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, to which it was donated.

Although her husband passed away in 2002, Mrs. Smithgall continues to support conservation efforts and in 2004 received the Global Conservation Award from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.

Mrs. Smithgall, who played tennis until age 89, and even served a love game the last time she picked up a racquet, has simple advice for the UGA students of today. "Just attend classes and absorb everything you can," she said. "I just am thankful for all my experiences there."

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