Director's Alert: Former WKYC Alum, Win Smith, Passes Away

One of our friends and former colleagues at WKYC, Win Smith, passed away.

If you did not know him, Win was a hard-line, classic newsman who was the ultimate assignment editor in WKYC's Westinghouse and NBC ownership days. For a time, Win ran the assignment desk AND produced the 6 p.m. Every day. There were no editorial meetings. It all came out of his head...he assigned it...then he produced it.

WKYC Assistant News Director Howard Fencl tells the Director's Cut Blog, "In the 1980s I had the privilege of working on the 6 p.m. with Win every day. He was, by then, wanting to slow it up a bit, and he was doing associate producer duties while I line produced. But I always knew in my heart I really was working FOR Win, anyway."

According to his colleauges, Win had a wicked sense of humor and an addiction to smelly cigars which he fortunately gave up. Nobody had a better gut instinct for news. He was a devoted father and a tireless fan of OSU.

Funeral Mass will be this Saturday, February 28, at 11:30 a.m., at St. Bernadette's Church, 2256 Clague Rd., Westlake. Interment St. Joseph Cemetery in Fremont. Friends may call at the DANIEL L. BERRY & DONALD MARTENS AND SONS FUNERAL HOME, 26691 DETROIT RD., WESTLAKE, ON FRIDAY, FROM 2 - 4 AND 7 - 9 P.M.

The Family suggests contributions to Sisters of Notre Dame, 3837 Secor Rd., Toledo, OH 43623 or the Carmelite Sisters, 3176 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Hts., OH 44118.
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Read more about Win's career: CLICK HERE

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