R. Brinkley Smithers; Gave Millions for Alcoholism Research

R. Brinkley Smithers, 86, a recovering alcoholic who funneled more than $41 million into alcoholism research. A native of New York’s Long Island, Smithers was educated at Johns Hopkins University. He was the son of investment banker Christopher D. Smithers, who helped create Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., which became IBM. The younger Smithers worked for IBM as a marketing executive, but quit after a few years, saying that work “interfered with his . . . drinking.” He also served eight years as an Army officer before using his inheritance to create a foundation to combat alcoholism. He took his last drink in 1953, a year after his father’s death. Among Smithers’ largest gifts were $6.7 million to Cornell and Rutgers universities in 1986 for the R. Brinkley Smithers Institute for Alcoholism Prevention and Workplace Problems, and $10 million to New York’s Roosevelt Hospital in 1971 for the Smithers Alcoholism Treatment and Training Center. On Tuesday in New York.