Judah Touro Society Award

The Judah Touro Society Award is Touro’s most prestigious honor which recognizes an individual or family whose continued support of Touro strengthens our community and inspires others through outstanding service. The award is presented annually by the members of the Judah Touro Society to honor exceptional contributions to Touro.

Judah Touro Society Award Honorees:

An Individual or a group of individuals whose collective service contributes to the welfare of Touro including:

Contributed significant acts of service, skills, and/or philanthropic support to Touro over a substantial period of time in the immediate past and/or present.
Held in high regard both in the community and at Touro. Honoring this individual would be appreciated by audiences both inside and outside the hospital.

Congratulations to our 2026 Judah Touro Society Award recipient, Dr. Charles Smith, III

charles smith

About Dr. Smith

he annual Judah Touro Society Award honors exceptional contributions
to Touro. Given by the members of the Judah Touro Society, the award recognizes living individuals whose continued support of Touro strengthens our community and inspires others through outstanding service.

For more than three decades, Dr. Charles C. “Charlie” Smith III has been an important part of the Touro medical community as a physician, leader, and steadfast supporter of the hospital. He joined Touro’s medical staff in 1989 and continues his distinguished career caring for patients today as a primary care physician and pulmonologist.

Dr. Smith’s commitment to Touro has always extended beyond his medical practice. He was a founding member of Touro’s Foundation Board and served on the Governing Board’s Finance Committee. He held leadership roles at Memorial Clinics, which treated members of Touro’s community without financial resources. Through these roles and his decades of medical practice, Dr. Smith has helped care for Touro patients while providing leadership to the physicians, staff, and institution that serve them. Dr. Smith also served on the Board of J. Aron and Company and the Metropolitan Area Committee’s Young Leadership Forum. Currently, Dr. Smith serves as an Elder of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church.

Dr. Smith’s relationship with Touro is also part of a remarkable family tradition. Through his wife, Lynn Bories Smith, Dr. Smith continues the longstanding connection of the Bories and Burkenroad families, whose generosity has touched generations of Touro patients, from newborns to seniors. The Smiths’ personal philanthropy has supported such projects as the Bories Oncology Fund, the Bories Family Book Fund, and the Bensadon Society. Just as important, they have instilled a tradition of service and generosity in the next generation, ensuring that their family’s commitment to Touro continues.

A member of the Judah Touro Society since its inception, Dr. Smith represents both Touro’s history and its future as a physician who has devoted decades to caring for its patients, a leader who has helped strengthen the institution, and a member of a family whose commitment to Touro now spans generations. His service, leadership and enduring support exemplify the spirit of the Judah Touro Society Award.

Past Judah Touro Society Award recipients include:

2025 - Stephen Hales, MD
2024 - Susan and Louis K. Good, III
2023 - Paul Barron
2022 - Ruth Kullman
2021- Fr. Doug Brougher*
2020 - The Entire Touro Staff honoring their fight against COVID-19
2019 - Gary R. Glynn, M.D.
2018 - Allan Bissinger*
2017 - Tom Oelsner, M.D.
2016 - Stephen H. Kupperman
2015 - Jay Shames, M.D.
2014 - Harris Hyman III, M.D. and Salvador Caputto, M.D.
2013 - Margaret Epstein
2012 - Marvin "Buddy" Jacobs*
2011 - Michael A. Berenson*
2010 - Paul S. Rosenblum
2009 - Catherine C. Kahn
2008 - Lawrence J. Israel*
2007 - Raja W. Dhurandhar, M.D.*
2006 - Victor E. Tedesco, IV, M.D.
2005 - Joseph E. Friend
2004 - Janie Bories*
2003 - Mrs. Louise L. Levy*
2002 - George R. Cary, Jr. M.D.
2001 - Roger Bissinger*
2000 - Robert B. Haspel, M.D.*
1999 - Albert Mintz*
1998 - Mrs. Jimmy Heymann*
1997 - Merryl Israel Aron*
1996 - Daniel W. Goldman, M.D.*
1995 - Mrs. James Frank, Jr.*
1994 - William Leon, M.D.*
1993 - Walter M. Barnett*
1992 - Allan M. Goldman, M.D.*
1991 - Frank Friedler, Sr.*
1990 - Leone S. Marks*
1989 - Stephen Goldring*

Judah Touro Society Award