Gary Smith is the kind of guy you could never say enough good things about - among them, his dedication to photojournalism. Gary was at his newspaper job when he died of an apparent heart attack at age 62 after being in the trenches about 37 years.
Anybody who was reading the Advocate during the years of 1972 (when I hired him as an intern) and 1986 (when he took a job with the Maryland Independent) will remember the photographic excellence he brought to the paper. In '72, Gary was working on a master's in photography at Ohio University. We hired him as intern for $95 a week, and later he came on full-time, likely at not much more money.
The years that followed were the glory days for local photojournalism because we had not only Gary, but two other top gunners - John Allee and Joy Ream.
I've kept bits of information about former employees on file, and I found in Gary's folder this morning a note to me from Jim Underwood, who was in 1977 the Advocate news editor. It praised Gary's coverage of late-breaking news on a fire at Newark Convalescent and Nursing Inn.
The fire broke out about 10:35 a.m. and our final deadline was 11. Jim monitored fire runs and police calls on an old annoying CB radio by his desk and beeped Gary who was on the scene within minutes.
"Right after arriving on the scene, Gary phoned in the first report, and the first draft was in the typewriter before the firemen had the situation under control," Jim wrote. "We went to work on the initial story before the 11 a.m. deadline. Three graphs into the rewrite, I received a follow-up report from Joy (Ream), who had somehow managed to shoot the pictures, grab some more details, and even get a statement from Chief Bader.
"As a result of their fast work one of the major breaking stories of the day made it down to the shop around 11:45 - a little over an hour after the Fire Department received the call from the nursing home.
"I bring this to your attention because I believe it demonstrates the kind of people we have working here. Gary and Joy's handling of the situation was exemplary. They have demonstrated once again what real professionalism can mean to a newsroom."
That's just one little story among many that Advocate co-workers and readers could tell about Gary's dedication and hard work.
He was held in similarly high regard by the people he served in Maryland, judging by the Independent's report on his death.
Gary grew up in Zanesville, was Vietnam veteran, a dedicated family man and a devout Christian. He's the kind of guy who made the world a better place, and I'm proud that he remained my friend through all these years.
Bruce,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the wonderful story and kind words about my father. Dad held you in the highest regard and this would have meant so much to him. We are doing our best to get through this tough time.
Gabe
This is very sad news. Thank you for sharing it, Bruce...I might not have heard otherwise. Gary was indeed a wonderful man. I only knew him for a short time while our lives overlapped in Newark, but we have exchanged Christmas Cards ever since. His death is a real loss to the world. He clearly touched many people in a very positive way. That positive impact on the world will live on, but we are all poorer now.
ReplyDeleteit was sad to hear of gary's untimely passing -- i remember him as a gifted photographer and a committed journalist .... it's fitting that he died with his boots on, so to speak
ReplyDeleteBruce, you wrote a great tribute to Gary. He had obviously won the respect and affection of the people of Southern Maryland as reflected in the outpouring of comments at his passing at far too early an age. He was my friend for 37 years and our families were close. Many friends and journalists came to his funeral on Monday; I was the only former Advocater able to be there, along with two of my sons. Glad to be there, but hard to say good-bye to him.
ReplyDeleteFriends of Gary:
ReplyDeleteI'm a latecomer to hear of Gary's untimely death
and lost track of him a few years after he left Zanesville to go East. I have very fond memories of him taking me along on his little red honda motorbike to Dow Lake, just east of Athens, Ohio where he would read, write, comtemplate or photograph; and I (the artist) would sculpt some sandstone rocks with the chisels and hammer he would let me bring along.
I had no transportation.
Other times I would visit him in his little upstairs college (house) apartment and we would be in his tiny closet lab and I would watch and help him develop all the pictures in the all those little pans of developer, water and fixitive. It was so crammed and hot kneeling on the floor in there in there. And my sense of smell would be dead from the ascetic acid he had to use in the process. I learned much about the photographic process from just watching him in that little lab of his bringing his great pictures to life right before our eyes. He would occasionally print one of my B&W pictures as well. I mostly mooched negative development from him (and my other photography-major friend, Axel Kaulisch, from Denver).
Gary was a great individual and I thought very highly of him. I also visited him in Zanesville at his Mom's house where he still lived and he showed me that beautiful six-cylinder Honda that he had recently purchased.
He explained how he would rush to a news event on his motorcycle, take the film to develop it and then write a story and then submit to have it published by the local newspaper almost immediately.
He confided to me how he was so excited when he first got that great motorcycle that he took a quick trip to Utah and back to break in the bike. My greatest regret now not keeping in regular touch with him and his whereabouts.
I have very fond memories of the two of us just bumming around sometimes on that little motorbike with somewhat "flattened" tires from our combined weight, driving somewhere in the winter.
I want to send my extremely-belated condolences to his family and all his friends and work associates and envy all that knew such a great person and warm human being for so much longer than myself!
Gary's old friend,
Richard Czentorycki