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Who
was Dr. Bob?
 Robert Holbrook Smith was born on August 8th 1879 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
After graduation from Dartmouth College in 1902, he completed his medical
training at Rush Medical School
in Chicago.
While attending college, he became a steady drinker; a situation that
progressed until his recovery. In 1915, some 17 years after he had first
met her, he married his high school sweetheart Anne Ripley and brought her
to Akron.
Even though he became a successful surgeon, he continued to struggle with
alcoholism.
In 1935 Dr. Bob met Bill
Wilson, a New York
businessman and entrepreneur who was struggling with his own alcoholism.
The two immediately became close friends, with Bill showing Dr. Bob how he,
Bill, with spiritual help, was finally able to recover from the effects of
alcoholism,. Dr. Bob had his last drink on June 10, 1935, and that is
considered to be the founding date of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1939 the
book, Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob and other early
members of our fellowship was published, and the fellowship that came to be
known as Alcoholics Anonymous was born. Dr. Bob was called the "Prince
of Twelfth Steppers" by Bill Wilson because he personally treated more
than 5000 alcoholics without charge. Also, it was in Dr. Bob's home that
some of the basic ideas essential to the A.A. way of life were developed.
Dr. Bob always said that
A.A.'s fundamental ideas came from the study of the Bible and that he
personally did not write or have anything to do with the later writing of the
12 Steps. In Dr. Bob's mind, the Steps in their deepest essence simply mean
"love and service."
Dr. Bob died on November 16,
1950 in Akron, Ohio after 15 years of uninterrupted
sobriety. Ever a self-effacing and humble man, he might be astonished, and
we feel very pleased, to realize that Alcoholics Anonymous has become a
world-wide organization that continues to help so many helpless alcoholics
begin and continue along the Road of Happy Destiny.
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