William B. Smart, a straight-shooting journalist who steered the Deseret News for more than a decade and established a dogged investigative team that rocked Utah’s establishment by sniffing out scandal after scandal, died Wednesday.
Smart, who labored at the LDS Church-owned newspaper for more than 40 years, including 14 as editor and general manager, was on the cutting edge of environmental journalism, recalled former Deseret News environmental writer Joe Bauman.
And he was an advocate, first as an editorial writer and later as the editor guiding the paper’s news agenda and as a community leader.
“He was prominent in the effort to make Capitol Reef a national park,” Bauman said.