PROVIDENCE - The Rev. Philip Alphonsus Smith, who served as president of Providence College for more than a decade, died Sunday at Rhode Island Hospital. He was 74.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, but college vice president Edward Caron said Father Smith was hospitalized last week for routine surgery.
Father Smith was president of the Roman Catholic college from 1994 until 2005 and was a philosophy professor there until his death.
As president, Father Smith was credited with overseeing $110 million in new construction and infrastructure improvements, including the creation of a performing arts center and chapel.
When he announced his retirement in 2004, Father Smith told the Providence Journal he was particularly proud of the building of St. Dominic Chapel.
"The chapel is a symbol of the Catholic religion and a spiritual center for the college," he said.
The college also added merit scholarships under his leadership and expanded enrollment in the honors program.
In May 2005, he was awarded the Veritas Medal, the college's highest honor.
A native of Prince Edward Island in Canada, Father Smith received a bachelor of arts degree from Providence College in 1963 and advanced degrees from St. Stephen's College in Dover, Mass., Drew University in Madison, N.J., and College of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. He taught philosophy at Providence College and became president of the College of the Immaculate Conception in the early 1990s.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for Friday at St. Dominic Chapel.
