‘Bob’ Smith III

Mar 1, 2020

Former Lebanon (Missouri) Daily Record publisher R.B. “Bob’’ Smith III died Thursday, January 16, 2020, in Lebanon. He was 80. Smith was publisher from 1988 to 1994.

He was born March 19, 1939, and grew up in Newport, Tennessee.

Smith attended high school at Oak Ridge High School and also Walton Community College. He then studied communications at the University of Tennessee.

He began his career in the newspaper field in 1955 and became classified advertising manager of The Oak Ridger newspaper in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. from 1957 to 1963. He spent 14 years (1966-1980) as the advertising director of The Citizen Tribune in Morristown, Tennessee, when the newspaper was started.

Jack Fishman, publisher of The Citizen Tribune, has many fond memories of Smith when he worked at the newspaper at the time the newspaper was born. “He worked for me 10 to 15 years, and we were very close,’’ he said.

Smith served as publisher of Tri-Lakes Newspapers in Branson from 1980-1988 and then moved to Lebanon to become publisher of The Daily Record. While publisher in Lebanon, he supervised the printing of Volume I and II of the Laclede County Pictorial History Books.

He and his wife, Pat, were married July 26, 1960. They had one son, Steve (deceased) who worked as sports editor for The Daily Record a few years.
Smith was the owner/publisher of Senior Living newspaper in Springfield and Joplin from 1995 to 1998.

He was active in the Missouri Press Association and served as president in 1991. He was then inducted into the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2005.

Smith began work with the Missouri Division of Tourism in 1988 when he became a member of the tourism commission. He remained on the commission for nine years, spending five of those years as the chairman. At one point during his service, he acted as interim director of the Missouri Division of Tourism. After leaving the commission, he began working for the Division of Tourism, retiring in 2010. Smith continued his association with MPA and newspapers throughout his years with Tourism.

After retiring, he became active in the Laclede County Republican Central Committee, where he served as chairman. He also loved gardening and raising flowers. One achievement was being a Master Gardener, where he volunteered many hours.

Celebration of life services have been held.