Bill w and dr bob aa biography

19/20th-century American physician and cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous

"Doctor Bob" redirects here. For other uses, see Doctor Bob (disambiguation).

Robert Holbrook Smith (August 8, 1879 – November 16, 1950), also known as Dr.

Bob, was an American physician and surgeon who cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson (more commonly known as Bill W.).

Family and early life

Smith was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where he was raised, to Susan A.

(Holbrook) and Walter Perrin Smith.^[1] His parents took him to religious services four times a week, and in response he determined he would never attend religious services when he grew up. He graduated from St Johnsbury Academy in 1898, having met his future wife Anne Robinson Ripley at a dance there.^[2]

Education, marriage, work, and alcoholism

Smith began drinking at college attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Early on he noticed that he could reco