With great sadness we announce the passing of Professor Michael R. Smith on Thursday, September 19th, 2024, just weeks after he had retired from the university. During the 50 years he spent at McGill, he was a pillar of our department and an influential figure across the university. Generous, kind and always willing to share his wisdom with colleagues and students, Professor Smith leaves a lasting mark as a scholar, a mentor, and friend to many.
A James McGill Professor from 2005 to 2019, Professor Smith was originally offered a Fulbright Scholarship to study as a historical sociologist at Brown University. After arriving at McGill, his research focus widened to include a range of topics in economic sociology. Throughout his prolific career, he produced almost 80 major scientific publications, primarily in leading national and international journals. The topics of his research ranged from the causes of strike waves to gender and sexual orientation discrimination in labour markets, from the sources of inflationary waves to trends in employment (in)security, from the effects of free trade and technological change to the role of internal labour markets. A principal characteristic of much of his work was his skepticism about received wisdom and various taken-for-granted assumptions. Early in his career, during a period in which the Canadian labour force was among the most strike-prone in the industrialized world, he became a leading scholar of Canadian labour relations, particularly known for his effective debunking of various widely held misconceptions in the field. In his magnum opus, quite appropriately titled Power, Norms and Inflation: A Skeptical Treatment (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1992), he incisively refuted a range of then-popular sociological theories of the seemingly unstoppable rise of inflation of the 1980s and 1990s. Many of his other publications similarly effectively debunked fashionable theories purporting to explain various socioeconomic trends.
Professor Smith's many administrative contributions to the University and beyond have been equally impressive. Always prepared to take on administrative responsibilities, he acquired a reputation for being an exceedingly efficient administrator. As a result, he became a much sought-after member of administrative bodies and committees, serving on some seventy-five committees at all levels of the University and more than two dozen evaluation committees of grant and prize-awarding bodies at the provincial, federal and international levels. During his multiple terms as Chair of the Department of Sociology, he played a central role in turning McGill's Department of Sociology into one of the leading departments in the world. From 2004 to 2007, he served as the President of the McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT). Professor Smith also actively pursued collaboration with colleagues in francophone academia. He was a frequent organizer and presenter at the annual conferences of the Association Francophone pour le Savoir (ACFAS), and close to a dozen of his publications appeared in French language journals.
In addition to being a highly productive scholar and superlative administrator, Professor Smith was a committed teacher, mentor, and advisor to his students. He was much-loved by his more than thirty graduate supervisees, many of whom went on to distinguished academic careers themselves. Their professional success was, to no small degree, the result of the rigorous training he provided and the numerous publications he co-authored with them. He was similarly a source of both inspiration and admiration amongst many of his junior colleagues, who cherished his unassuming style, keen sense of humour, and unwavering commitment to professional integrity and academic excellence.
Professor Smith will be greatly missed by his former students, colleagues and many friends within the University. Our deepest sympathies go to his wife, Sandra, his children Abigail and Daniel, and his beloved grandchildren.