Philip J Smith

Mr. Smith announced his retirement in June 2020, following a 63-year career in the theatre industry. Philip J. Smith, who rose from usher to a position in the box office to the top office in the theatre-owning dynasty, the Shubert Organization, died January 15 at the age of 89. His daughters, Linda Philips and Jennifer Stein, have confirmed that his death was due to complications COVID-19. Mr. Smith began his career as a box office treasurer at the Shubert-owned Imperial Theatre on Broadway in 1957. He was brought into the Organization’s administrative offices in 1965 as Shubert president Bernard Jacobs’ chief aide and steadily rose through the ranks, to vice president and then executive vice president. It was during his tenure in that role Mr. Smith helped usher the company into the digital age and increase accessibility to theatre, including the launch of Telecharge and the opening of the TKTS ticket booths (operated by TDF). Following the death of Jacobs in 1996, he was named by Gerald Schoenfeld as Jacobs’ replacement. after the November 2008 death of chairman Gerald Schoenfeld, Mr. Smith was elevated to the role of chairman of The Shubert Organization, becoming the senior man at the Shuberts. Mr. Smith and Robert Wankel were named co-chief executive officers of The Shubert Organization in December 2008. Mr. Smith was also chairman of the board of The Shubert Foundation until his retirement, which he announced in June 2020, taking the title chairman emeritus. Mr. Smith was born July 29, 1931, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and began working in movie theatres while he was a scholarship student at Bishop Loughlin High School. Mr. Smith sat on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors and on the Tony Awards Administration Committee of the Broadway League. He was an active board member for two of the theatre’s most important charitable institutions: The Actors Fund and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Mr. Smith also served as the first vice president of the former. He was a member of the Knights of Malta and the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Mr. Smith was married to Phyllis Campbell from 1960 until her death in 1994 and to Tricia Walsh from 1999 to 2008. In addition to his two daughters, he is survived by sons-in-law Martin Phillips and John Stein, plus grandchildren Grant, James, Kate, Michael, and Peter.