Paul Smith (born September 20, 1935) is an American Presbyterian minister, mediator and civil rights activist known for creating multi-racial churches in Buffalo, St. Louis, Atlanta and Brooklyn, NY.
He has been an administrator, faculty member and trustee at seminaries and universities in St. Louis, Atlanta and New York City.
[6] He also served as associate pastor at Second Presbyterian Church and helped coordinate a large Urban League antipoverty program.
[9] In 1979, Dr. Smith attracted media attention as far away as Los Angeles and Miami when he became the first black minister of all-white Hillside Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia, outside Atlanta.
[5] Smith left Atlanta in 1986, having been chosen from more than 100 candidates to lead historic First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights, New York.
His friend, then-Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young, gave the sermon at the installation service attended by more than 700 people.
[9] In addition to being explicitly multi-cultural and multi-racial, First Church under Smith's leadership also became more politically active and welcomed the gay and lesbian community.
[3] Over a 20-year pastorate, Smith shared his pulpit with a wide range of clergy, elected officials and scholars including Professor Derrick Bell, the Dalai Lama, Mayor David Dinkins of New York and Marc Morial, now president of the National Urban League.
[15] Smith has been a trustee of academic and healthcare institutions including Long Island College Hospital, where he was chair of the Ethics Committee.
[7] He was a founding board member of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, then affiliated with SUNY Downstate Medical Center.