Former ABC News Correspondent Jack Smith died Wedneday after a battle with cancer. He was 58.
Smith began his career as an ABC News correspondent in 1976, later serving as a Washington correspondent from 1980 until he left the network in 2001. For nine years Mr. Smith was the principal correspondent for This Week with David Brinkley, filing background reports on a wide range of topics, including the collapse of Communism, the Iran-Contra affair and two presidential elections.
Before coming to Washington, he was ABC News’ Paris correspondent, where he reported on a variety of international stories. He also reported from West Beirut during the Israeli siege of that city, covered the 1982 Canadian ascent of Mt. Everest–the first network correspondent to report from the mountain itself–and covered the White House and the State Department for Good Morning America.
Said ABC News president David Westin: "Jack knew how to communicate as few others do, and did it with eloquence, wit and grace. He made an invaluable contribution to ABC News and we mourn his loss."
Smith, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, was the son of TV news pioneer and ABC News anchor Howard K. Smith.
