Lee Smith, retired Buffalo News reporter, editor and editorial writer; veteran professor at UB, Canisius College and Daemen College; and a former advisor to the Spectrum, died yesterday afternoon from complications of a stroke he suffered last July.
Smith was born May 1, 1919 in Washington, D.C. He attended the City College of New York and the Columbia School of Journalism.
He joined The Buffalo News in 1948, and left in 1951 to spend two years in the Air Force before returning to The News in 1953. He began his career as a reporter and was promoted to assistant city editor and editorial editor in April of 1957.
During his career, Smith won two Freedom Foundation medals, 10 Front Page First awards, 13 awards from the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, an Honors Medal from the Columbia School of Journalism, and was a lifetime member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers.
A funeral service for Lee Smith will be held Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Unitarian Church on Elmwood Avenue. He is survived by two children and three grandchildren.
