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“I have known Al for 58 years all told.\u00a0 He was a remarkable man able to overcome obstacles to become a leader in Kentucky through his journalism and otherwise, particularly as an advocate for public education.\u00a0 His wife, Martha Helen supported and encouraged him, helping him use his many gifts for the betterment of Kentucky.\u00a0 He will be missed!”<\/em><\/p>\n – Fannie Louise Maddux<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “Al was much more than a renowned KET icon. He put his heart and soul in improving everyone he touched. I met and worked with him in his role as the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. As with everything he touched, he made it better.”<\/em><\/p>\n – David Bolt<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “Al was a valued evaluator of my public service. ”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n – Former KY Gov. Paul Patton<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “Al was unique in his incessant curiosity and ability to connect what he had seen and heard over many years to current issues and situations. He was a true journalist. We need many more of his caliber in today’s public sphere.”<\/em><\/p>\n – Cindy Heine<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “When Al Smith came to his adopted state as a young journalist, he quickly took on the mantle of promoting and improving rural journalism.\u00a0 He fervently believed that rural Kentuckians deserved the very best information and reporting to make them better citizens of the Commonwealth.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n He then expanded that passion and became a force for improving education everywhere in Kentucky but particularly rural Kentucky, knowing that improved educational outcomes translated into better lives for all.\u00a0 As a founding member of the Prichard Committee, Al used his oratorical skills, his prowess as a journalist and his influence as one of the state’s most important public figures to spread the message far and wide that Kentuckians deserved a world class educational system.”<\/em><\/p>\n – Hilma Prather<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]Al Smith, a founding member of the Prichard Committee, died on Friday, March 19, at his home in Florida after suffering renal failure. He was 94.<\/p>\n Smith was appointed in 1980 as an original member of the Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky\u2019s Future. After issuing its report the following year and seeking change, the group recast itself in 1983 as the Prichard Committee, a non-profit citizens group focused on K-12 improvements.<\/p>\n Decades later, Smith\u2019s prominent connection led the Prichard Committee to name its endowment campaign in his honor. At its annual meetings, he often addressed the group with a colorful mix of historical perspective and bold calls for action.<\/p>\n \u201cAl Smith held all of us to the highest standards of honesty and commitment to the public good,\u201d said Brigitte Blom Ramsey, President & CEO of the Prichard Committee. \u201cHe was an unabashed champion for rigorous improvements in education, which would undoubtedly serve the state and its people well, far into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Albert Perrine Smith Jr. was born in 1927 in Sarasota, Fla. As he grew up in rural Tennessee, his knack for bringing a persuasive voice to public issues began early. At age 15, he won an American Legion national oratorical contest for high schoolers. Smith started his journalism career in Louisiana and moved to Kentucky after serving as state editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune<\/em>. His experience as editor of the weekly Russellville News-Democrat<\/em> coincided with overcoming alcoholism and expanding his business interests, starting with founding The Logan Leader<\/em>. He went on to own several rural newspapers as part of Al Smith Communications in 1968.<\/p>\n In 1974, he became the founding host and producer of \u201cComment on Kentucky,\u201d a weekly public affairs show on KET. He hosted the show until 2007, taking a leave from 1979-82 when he was appointed federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission under the Carter and Reagan Administrations. Smith was a member of numerous state boards. Among his civic projects, he was involved in the founding of the Kentucky Oral History Commission, Leadership Kentucky, the Governor\u2019s Scholars Program, and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very much a man engaged \u2014 that\u2019s the way I view myself,\u201d he explained in a 1996 interview for the UK Oral History Collection. \u201cI enjoyed the papers giving me a platform for a public life without running for office.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith received honorary degrees from nine universities. \u201cFor 40 years, Al Smith has been an important fixture on the public-policy stage in Kentucky, holding the state, its officials, its institutions and its journalists to higher standards that we must achieve for the state to realize its potential,\u201d UK proclaimed in awarding him an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2011.<\/p>\n He frequently called attention to improving educational outcomes. \u201cIndifference or outright hostility to academic progress has always been an issue in Kentucky,\u201d Smith wrote in a 2010 commentary applauding the Prichard Committee\u2019s work. He said the group was elevating what he called Kentucky\u2019s most important challenge: \u201chow to help our children become competitive in a knowledge economy.\u201d<\/p>\n In a 2017 appeal to Prichard members and education advocates to contribute to the group\u2019s work, Smith wrote, \u201cThe roll call of early supporters of the Prichard Committee who have died since our battle for better education began in the early 1980s reminds us of how much they gave to improve our schools and the challenge we still face in the struggle for our children\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith hailed the sustained push for education improvements in a 2013 commentary.<\/p>\n \u201cNo longer a place of barefoot feudists, Kentucky abounds with champions for education \u2014 in many schools, of course; in factories and at the literacy centers that tutor kids after school, train parents to read to infants and help with homework, and show aspiring writers how to compose books.\u201d While noting progress, he concluded with an appeal for new activism. \u201cThe widening poverty gap is screwing up our dreams for a better Kentucky. Who are the new leaders to fix that problem, and how will they do it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn a letter from Al a little over a year ago, he encouraged us to stay the course, to push forward with evermore vim and vigor, as the battle was far from won,\u201d said Blom Ramsey. \u201cIn Al\u2019s honor, we are doing our darndest to build a new groundswell of champions committed to ensuring measureable progress in education \u2013 that serves to break generations of poverty, once and for all, moving Kentucky from the bottom rungs of the nation.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″ background_color=”#f4f4f4″ css=”.vc_custom_1616443096535{padding-top: 2% !important;padding-right: 2% !important;padding-bottom: 2% !important;padding-left: 2% !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “Although Al to many, Al Smith was always Mr. Smith to me. Born a generation too late, I met this legend of Kentucky journalism, education, and politics only in passing. Yet, his presence was always imposing and his credibility unquestioned during our brief conversations. Mr. Smith may not have been Governor, but his public service as the \u201csocial conscious \u201c of Kentucky was even more impactful. Mr. Smith will always be remembered as one of the \u201cgood guys\u201d and his absence will certainly be missed, not only by his family but our Commonwealth as a whole.”<\/em><\/p>\n – Wynn Radford<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “I once had the pleasure of driving Al from Lexington to Owensboro for the funeral of our mutual friend Morton Holbrook. The stories of journalism, politics and folklore were non-stop and amazing…like taking a graduate course in Ky history. I already miss him and his era.”<\/em><\/p>\n – Dave Adkisson<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “In 1987 while in law school at UK, I was appointed by Gov. Martha Layne Collins to serve on the Kentucky Counsel on Higher Education. It was an honor to serve along side of great Kentuckians such as Burt Combs, Terry McBrayer, and yes, the great Al Smith. Following my first meeting as a member of the counsel, I recall Mr. Smith approaching my guide dog Simon and me and commenting that, “You were a perfect new member to the Counsel today. You didn’t say a word.”\u00a0 I thanked him for the compliment!<\/em><\/p>\n I also had the pleasure to serve with Mr. Smith on a presidential search and screening committee at Morehead State. We spent a long weekend at Carter Caves State Park pouring over resumes and applications of candidates to fill the presidency. Mr. Smith was insightful as always and graced us with his insight and wit. He was truly a great Kentuckian. Our Commonwealth is better for having called him a Kentuckian. “<\/em><\/p>\n – David Holton<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][wyde_separator text_align=”center” el_width=”80%” color=”#bcbcbc”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n “Al Smith was a central figure in Kentucky\u2019s political world, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.\u00a0 With his great story telling, his timely critical coverage of Frankfort events, and his wonderfully entertaining news program on KET, he taught us all the important and colorful facts and legends about Kentucky.\u00a0 And thank you, Al, for advocating the way to a better education for Kentuckians.”<\/em><\/p>\n – Pam Miller<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text]”I got to know Al early in my Kentucky life, a West Virginia girl who moved here from North Carolina after receiving a Master\u2019s degree in journalism at UNC. \u00a0Al and I were both named to serve on the Governor\u2019s Commission on Education in Kentucky\u2019s Future (I was then education chair of the national League of Women Voters) and Al\u2019s deep interests in public education, citizen participation in political governance, and the newspaper business bound us together in our advocacy efforts. \u00a0With others who served on the Commission, we went on to form the Prichard Committee and continue our efforts.<\/p>\n Al was a wonderful teacher, and I would even say a role model, for me. \u00a0I went on to a professional career in journalism (as a reporter, editor and publisher, mostly for Knight-Ridder) combined with strong advocacy for public education and good governance in all their forms.”<\/p>\n – Dot Ridings<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Al Smith, a founding member of the Prichard Committee, died on Friday, March 19, at his home in Florida after suffering renal failure. He was 94. <\/p>\n Smith was appointed in 1980 as an original member of the Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky\u2019s Future. After issuing its report the following year and seeking change, the group recast itself in 1983 as the Prichard Committee, a non-profit citizens group focused on K-12 improvements. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ed"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6059,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447\/revisions\/6059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prichard Committee Members Remember Al Smith<\/strong><\/h4>\n