Tim Smith – “The Lion of Responsible Investing”

Tim Smith, who began his career in the early 1970s at the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) – has retired from the Boston Trust Walden Company at year-end 2022, where he’d worked for over 20 years. But - great news, and no big surprise to us - in January 2023 he returned to work at ICCR to  serve as a Senior Policy Advisor, where he will continue to work on issues related to corporate lobbying and political spending, among others.

Your editor-in-chief first met Tim in the early 1970s – when he formally proposed at all the big NYC bank Shareholder Meetings, year after year, that they not lend to companies based in or doing business with South Africa until the apartheid system was eliminated. He was and is a “gentle lion” – always a perfect gentleman, who listens patiently and politely to chairmen like ours at Manufacturers Hanover Trust, who felt that the proposal would seriously harm black workers if adopted, but always stood his ground effectively. We are convinced that his efforts hastened the end of apartheid by ten years or more. Like Sister Pat, it was and is impossible not to take notice – and to like and respect him whenever he takes a stand. Please take a few minutes to read the post below – which we will also post permanently in our History section. See “Reflecting on the ESG Industry’s Strong Foundation and Bright Future” @GreenMoney Journal