Joel P. Smith, 'Eufaula Tribune' Publisher, Dies at 80

By: E&P Staff Joel P. Smith, longtime editor, publisher, and owner of weekly The Eufaula (Ala.) Tribune, passed away Thursday at age 80.

Smith had worked at The Tribune in one capacity or another from 1958, when he was named editor and general manager, to 2006, when his family sold the paper to Media General.

Born in Samson, Ala. in 1929, Smith graduated from Florida State University before beginning his newspaper career at the Birmingham News and Birmingham Post Herald, where he worked in marketing and promotions. He also served three years as editor of the Geneva Reaper before moving to Eufala in 1958.

In that year, Smith went into partnership with ten-owner Col. H.L. Upshaw. Smith was appointed publisher the next year, and continued to run the paper after Upshaw's death, along with the Colonel's widow, Elizabeth. Smith finally acquired sole ownership of the paper in 1974. Smith worked at the paper alongside his wife, Ann, and son, Jack, whom the elder Smith named editor in 1999. Smith also published the weekly Cuthbert (Ga.) Times-News Record for 25 years before its closure in 1998.

Smith wrote local editorials and a weekly column, "Candid Comments," which ran every week for 48 years. Smith was remembered as a progressive voice on the editorial page. Among other causes, he championed historic preservation, tourism, and the attraction of new industries to the town. He also served on President Richard Nixon's Alabama Cabinet Committee for Education, which was formed to ease the transition to integrated schools.

Active members of both the Alabama and Georgia Press Associations, Joel and Ann Smith were honored with the Alabama Press Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Smith is survived, among other relatives, by his wife and three sons.