G-Prep alum leaves school $3.4 million

A man who begged his parents to attend Gonzaga Preparatory School and grew up to be a pioneer in the semiconductor field has left the school $3.4 million, the biggest single donation in its 119-year history.

“We’ve never received a gift anywhere close to that,” retired president John Traynor told a special school assembly announcing the bequest left by 1943 alumnus Harold J. “Joe” Smead.

Gonzaga Prep officials used Wednesday’s assembly to also announce the kickoff of an $11 million capital fund drive.

Traynor told students that he visited Ann and Joe Smead in Colorado in October 2003, a few months before Joe died. That’s when Traynor learned that Smead had pleaded with his parents to attend Gonzaga Prep, but they couldn’t afford the tuition. Smead later talked with school leaders, who found a way to make it affordable. That’s what paved the way for Smead’s return gift, said Traynor.

Joe Smead, a native of Spokane, went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado and a master’s from the University of Washington. He then joined the faculty of Gonzaga University.

He later earned a Ph.D. at Purdue University and worked at Litton Industries, where he pioneered the use of semiconductors in navigation and control systems. By 1974, he was president of Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics.

The $11 million “Gonzaga Prep Forever” capital campaign will include a $2 million remodel of the chapel, $1.5 million in athletic field renovations, a $2 million remodel of the campus’ north wing and a $5 million endowment fund for the Fair Share program, where a student in need – like Joe Smead once was – can have tuition subsidized.