Smolowe ’81 dies of colon cancer

By Madeline Sims, The Dartmouth Staff

Published on Tuesday, August 24, 2010

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Ann Smolowe ’81, who served as senior managing director for leadership giving in the College’s Office of Development, died on Aug. 14 in her home in Norwich, Vt., after a two-year fight with colon cancer, according to WestportNow.com, a news website in her former hometown of Westport, Conn. Smolowe was 51 years old.

A government major at the College and member of the Dartmouth cross-country ski team, Smolowe spent three years after graduating working for the American Stock Exchange under Arthur Levitt, who went on to serve as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

When not working, Smolowe enjoyed spending time outside — she hiked the Appalachian Trail solo, ice-climbed in Alaska and whitewater kayaked, her brother, Alan Smolowe, told WestportNow.

“She liked to live on the edge and push her limits, he said.

Smolow inspired “everyone around her, every single day,” said Gregg Cerveny, the Office of Development’s managing director for leadership giving at the College, who worked closely with Smolowe for the past three years.

“She’s one of those truly special and amazing people that makes everyone and everything around her better,” he said.

Smolowe “put Dartmouth first” in everything she did, according to Cerveny.

“She always strove for excellence — she was all about asking questions, collecting information, analyzing it and then executing based on all her research,” he said. “She also was always willing to help anyone who needed help and challenged others to do their best.”

Although many people may be able to “light up a room,” Smolowe knew how to “light up life,” Cerveny said.

“We knew it was coming but she was such a special person that it’s still difficult,” he said.

After being diagnosed with cancer in 2009, Smolowe organized a small team for last summer’s Prouty Century Bike Ride and Challenge Walk, an annual fundraiser that raises money for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center.

This summer, Smolowe and Cerveny co-captained the 185-member Big Green Pazooie team, Cerveny said.

“So many people who had interacted with her in one way or another really came out off the woodwork to show support for her and the cause,” he said.

He added that Smolowe was “very open” about her battle with cancer and inspired others with her story.

Smolowe — whose Prouty team raised over $100,000 this year — also shared fundraising ideas with the event’s organizers based on her prior professional experience, he said.

“For example, she encouraged them to open up the website a little bit earlier to take advantage of year-end giving, which they hadn’t done in the past,” Cerveny said.

Before returning to Dartmouth in 2005, Smolowe worked for Project Adventure, a non-profit organization that specializes in adventure consulting. Working first in Massachusetts and then Portland, Ore., Smolowe led the company’s corporate market team.

Smolowe always displayed a “keen sense of fun,” Project Adventure CEO Dick Prouty said, and he said she was happiest when she was able to make others happy.

“She simply breathed learning and quality for all,” he said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. “Ann was a natural and brilliant leader for [Project Adventure], and we benefited from it enormously over her 15 years with us.”

Her sister, Jill Smolowe, called Ann “a force of nature.”

“She radiated a special energy and generosity of spirit that deeply touched everybody who came into contact with her,” Jill Smolowe told WestportNow.

Smolowe married her husband, James Wasser, in 1985. They had two children together — Emily, who is now a senior at Wheaton College, and Jeremy, who is a sophomore at Boston University.

Smolowe is survived by her husband, her two children, her parents, two brothers, a sister, her grandmother and five nieces and nephews, according to WestportNow.