RUDEN McCLOSKY PRESENTED GRANT FROM $100,000 SAM SMITH MEMORIAL ENDOWMENT TO GUARDIANSHIP PROGRAM OF DADE COUNTY, INC.

Fort Lauderdale, FL: Ruden McClosky presented the first grant from the Samuel S. Smith Memorial Endowment Fund to the Guardianship Program of Dade County, Inc. at yesterday's Dade County Bar Association meeting at the Hyatt Regency of Miami. The inaugural grant of $6,484 was the first disbursement from the $100,000 fund established by the Ruden McClosky law firm.

The check was presented by Carl Schuster, President and Managing Director of Ruden McClosky, and John Thornton of the Florida Bar Foundation to Jerry Santeiro, Executive Director of the Guardianship Program of Dade County, Inc., and Sergio Mendez, President of the Guardianship Program of Dade County, Inc. Representing the Samuel S. Smith family were Mr. Smith's widow Susan Smith and her children Lauren Hawkins and Gary Smith and Mr. Smith's brother, Harry Smith, a partner of Ruden McClosky.

The Samuel S. Smith Memorial Endowment Fund honors the memory of attorney Samuel Smith, a partner of the Ruden McClosky law firm, who passed away in 1999. Sam Smith was the driving force and founding president behind the Guardianship Program of Dade County, and was a nationally recognized specialist in probate, guardianship and trust litigation. Following Smith's death, the Fund was established in 2001 by Ruden McClosky at The Florida Bar Foundation Endowment Trust to protect the legal rights of low income incapacitated, elderly and disabled persons. Mr. Schuster said, 'This would have meant a great deal to Sam. He worked tirelessly to make the Guardianship Program of Dade County a reality.'

The Guardianship Program of Dade County, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) public charity that provides guardianship services to indigent adults in Miami-Dade County. The oldest and largest public guardian in the state, the Program protects the legal rights of low income incapacitated, elderly and disabled persons and served 935 wards in 2005, representing over half of all public guardianships in Florida.

The Florida Bar Foundation Endowment Trust is a 501(c)(3) public charity created and operated exclusively for the benefit of the charitable, scientific, literary or educational exempt purposes of The Florida Bar Foundation. The Florida Bar Foundation is a charitable organization