Benjamin Ignatius Smolenski

He was born on May 22, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey to Benjamin and Victoria, and raised in Irvington, New Jersey, the eldest of four children. Early years were spent playing football, baseball, and running track while becoming an Eagle Scout before attending Seton Hall University.

Ben earned his medical degree at Georgetown University, setting him off on a four-decade career in Orthopedic surgery—a specialty that by nature often led him to meet people in some of their more vulnerable moments. He was renowned for a style of care that mended both patients’ bones and spirits. Possessed of a strong work ethic, his love of medicine nonetheless led him to say that he never worked a day in his life.

Georgetown also introduced Ben to his love and best friend, Ann, a fellow student studying nursing. The two were married on August 28, 1965. After an internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York, residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and service at Chanute Air Force base in Rantoul, Illinois, Ben and Ann settled in Moorestown, New Jersey to raise their three daughters, two sons, and numerous dogs over the years. He began a private practice that became Smolenski, Brill, and Hayken and was on staff at Zurbrugg Memorial Hospital and was Chief of Orthopedics at Burlington County Memorial Hospital. He served as President of the Burlington County Medical Society and as President of the Philadelphia Orthopedic Society. He loved to say he was “just a country doc.”

Ben had a ready sense of humor, famous in his household for his many quotable sayings. He earned the affectionate nickname “Griz” from his children’s friends for pronouncements that were both hilarious and infused with generosity and integrity.

But this deceptively simple approach to life allowed him to focus on the things that really mattered: his unwavering love of family, his devout Catholic faith, and his deep patriotism. In the nearly sixty years he spent side-by-side with his wife Ann, they built a life together based on these values.

After his retirement, Ben moved to Cape Cod, where he and Ann had summered for decades. In Chatham, Ben spent his time tending to his garden, playing with his eleven grandchildren, and volunteering with The Chatham Historical Society, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and an orthopedic clinic in Hyannis.

Ben will live on in the memories of his loving wife Ann; daughters Meg (Rob), Elizabeth (Nick), and Kate (Evan); sons Tom (Nisha) and John; and his grandchildren Emma, Grace, Ben, Annie, Alex, Daphne, Annabelle, Ben, Maggie, Clare, and Will as their beloved “Poppy.” He is also survived by his sisters Eleanor and Vicki (John) and brother George (Kay)

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Friends are invited to a funeral mass at St. Joan of Arc in Orleans, Massachusetts at 11:00 am on June 19th. A celebration of life will follow in the Fall. In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked to donate to Sacred Heart School in Camden, NJ.