Remembering Suzanne Smith Saulniers MS’70, PhD’74
Suzanne Smith Saulniers MS’70, PhD’74 of New Bedford died on September 23, 2025, at St. Luke’s Hospital after a courageous battle with cancer. She was the wife of 55 years of Alfred H. Saulniers PhD’73.
Suzanne was born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of Willard N. and Genevieve (Delaney) Smith. After graduation from Fayetteville-Manlius High School, she attended Marquette University for a year before transferring to Cornell University. She graduated from Cornell in 1966 with a degree in rural sociology. She then went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison where, in 1974, she was the first U.S. woman and second woman ever to earn a PhD in rural sociology. In 2013, her high school inducted her into its Hall of Distinction for “Outstanding Achievement in International Rural Development.”
After spending six years teaching at Huston-Tillotson, a historically Black college in Austin, Texas, she devoted most of her life to international development work. She had consulting expertise and long-term residence in: Pakistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Morocco, Iraq, Kenya, Congo (ex-Zaïre), Peru, and China. In addition, she consulted, managed, or supported overseas programs for: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Haïti, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malaysia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
She led programs for the Ford Foundation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United States Agency for International Development, the Asian Development Bank, the Asia Foundation, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, the World Bank, Catholic Relief Services, and the British Department for International Development.
In New Bedford, until COVID, she and her husband ran the acclaimed Orchard Street Manor Bed & Breakfast. Suzanne also took an active role in politics and chaired the Democratic Party’s Ward 5 committee.
She is survived by her husband, daughter Catherine Sherrill and husband John (Matthew) of Durham, NH, four grandchildren, Ruth, John, Louis, and Henry, a beloved sister Genevieve Jansen of Chapel Hill, NC, and countless nieces, nephews, and cousins.
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