Title
Congratulating Bernard W. Smalley for being named President of the Board of Directors of City Trusts, making him the first Black President in the board's 151 year history.
Body
WHEREAS, On December 16, 2020, Bernard W. Smalley, Esq., was unanimously elected as the President of the Board of Directors of City Trusts, which oversees 119 charitable trusts, including Girard College and Wills Eye Hospital. Smalley has been a member or the board since 2001, and he became the Vice President in 2012; and
WHEREAS, Smalley was raised in West Philadelphia, where he worked in his father's barbershop. There, he grew up in the presence of some of the City's greatest legal minds who frequented the barbershop, including William H. Hastie, the first African-American to serve as the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals; Ronald Davenport, who became Dean of Duquesne University Law School; and H. Patrick Swygert, who became President of Howard University. As a child, Smalley was a witness to the civil rights movement of the 1960s in Philadelphia, where the cause to desegregate Girard College was a major focus; and
WHEREAS, These leaders, and his early experiences, ultimately inspired Smalley to study law. Smalley took over his father's business after his unexpected death, while also attending Temple University. Upon his graduation from Temple, Smalley worked as an administrator for the Court of Common Pleas while also attending Widener University Law School at night. Upon his graduation in 1980, Smalley clerked for the Hon. Stanley M. Greenberg, then began his career as a trial attorney advocating on behalf of victims of corporate or professional negligence. Representing plaintiffs in some of the City's highest profile cases, Smalley was a partner at the Anapol Schwartz law firm for nearly 30 years before eventually becoming a partner at Raynes Lawn Hehmeyer in 2016; and
WHEREAS, In his 35-year career, Smalley's combination of intellect, perceptiveness, and warmth ha...
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