Gregory D. Smith, president and CEO of the Westport-based Maplewood Senior Living, passed away at the age of 54 on March 31. The cause of the death was not disclosed.
Smith was a real estate investor who became involved in the senior housing sector by chance. In a 2017 interview with the Business Journals, he recalled receiving a business-related phone tip in 2004 from an unlikely source.
“My mother works at Danbury Hospital and she said that the building next to the hospital, a defunct nursing home, was for sale,” Smith said. “She had talked to one of the hospital administrators and was told there might be an opportunity to buy it.”
Smith had initially hoped to turn the property into an apartment complex, but another happenstance conversation detoured him.
“I have a friend in New Jersey involved in senior housing,” he said. “We walked through the Danbury property and he said to me, ”˜Did you ever consider converting this to assisted living?”™ It was 2005 and that industry was fairly young. So, I looked into this and I saw there was a need for 75 to 80 units in that market.”
Smith grew Maplewood into 16 senior living communities across Fairfield County, and also developed communities Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. He also launched Inspir, a luxury senior housing brand with locations in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Smith was an active philanthropist who supported regional health care facilities, and he chaired the board of directors for Ability Beyond; he was also on the board of directors for the Alzheimer”™s Association of Connecticut, Danbury Hospital, and Norwalk Hospital.
Photo by Phil Hall
