By Judy Sheahan
February 2, 2009

Guy Francis Smith, Managing Editor for U.S. Mayor and Director of The U.S. Conference of Mayors' Intern Program, passed away December 30 and was honored during the January 17 Plenary Session at the Conference of Mayors 77th Winter Meeting.

Conference of Mayors President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz said, "The U.S. Conference of Mayors family has lost a colleague and friend. He always brightened our day and made life enjoyable for all of us."

Diaz read a special resolution honoring Smith that was adopted by the Executive Board at the meeting. The resolution included a paragraph that stated, "…that the nation's mayors honor and remember the many contributions Guy made to The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the nation's cities, the people of Puerto Rico, the countless students that he mentored, and the immigrants whom he loved and served."

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Past President of The Conference of Mayors, said it was "a great honor to speak about a very special man."

"Guy Smith was an irreplaceable person among many irreplaceable people," Riley said. "The City of Washington (DC) is a city of strong people. Elbows are sharp as they often need to be to advance your cause. In this city, Guy Smith stood out because Guy succeeded without question, without any semblance of a hard edge. He was the nicest guy, the most admired man, a prince in this city."

"Guy was a happy man. We need this in our lives. When we have joy of spirit, a happy spirit with us, it is a tonic. It was inspiring, as only Guy could do. Guy was so wise. He had it. He could size up a situation, whether a global event or special event in this city or in this organization. He could size up people. He could understand their character as if he were a human X-ray machine. When it was a good character, he would celebrate it. He always offered us new, positive, hopeful insights."

Riley described the last substantive conversation he had with Smith at the Miami Annual Meeting last June, where they discussed the candidacy of now President Barack Obama. "‘You know, Joe,' Guy said to me, ‘Obama's candidacy is giving us an opportunity in America for a non-racial society.'"

"It was Guy's wisdom to look over the horizon and to see opportunity in the country from his candidacy," Riley said. "He thought that America maybe had a chance to move beyond racism, a chance to move beyond ‘old history.'"

Riley said, "We always thought he would be with us. The vacuum is the hardest part of loss. But we carry with us the joy and gratitude of having known this special man. Sometime this Tuesday evening [Inauguration Day, January 20], I hope you will lift a glass in a toast to this special man and know how happy and proud he would be...and say a special prayer for Guy Smith."

Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran told the audience, "On January 7, we had a special celebration of the life of Guy Smith at the National Press Club. Three hundred people came. People came because they wanted to come and everyone at the reception came up to me and said, ‘Let me tell you what Guy did for me.'"

Cochran continued, "He came to work for me in 1988, but we had known him much earlier than that because of his work with Puerto Rico. His whole life was public service. That commitment to public service is in the last line of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address: ‘Let us go forth, knowing that here on earth, God's work must truly be our own.'"

"We celebrate the life of Guy Smith, knowing that he was a true public servant," Cochran said. "We honor him by announcing that our intern program here at the Conference of Mayors is now the Guy Francis Smith Intern Program."

As previously reported in the last edition of U.S.Mayor (January 12 edition), Smith was honored at a special memorial January 7 at the National Press Club, where more than 300 people attended. Cochran quoted excerpts from two poems, W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues" and T.S. Elliott's "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock," and President Kennedy's Inaugural and State of the Union.

The Conference of Mayors also sent an official delegation, led by Palatine (IL) Mayor Rita Mullins and Cochran, to the funeral of Christian burial that was held at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Milwaukee. Members of the delegation included Tom and Carlotta Cochran, Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins, Carol Spizzirri from Save a Life Foundation, Dave Gatton and Jillian McNamara, Wendy L. Wilkerson, Barbara Dill, David W. Burns, Justin O'Brien, and Judy Sheahan.

Below are excerpts of what was said at the Memorial. To see the entire memorial service, visit the website at www.usmayors.org.

"We've come here today to celebrate the life of Guy Francis Smith. No one will ever be like him again. He gave us so much. Everyone in this room is a much better person for having known him and being in his presence." - USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran

"Guy will be remembered for his love of people, his devotion to the underdog and ill-served, his impatience with incompetent politicians, his admiration for competent ones, his love of students, and, most of all, his humor and insight." - USCM Council for the New American City Director Dave Gatton

"Guy had a tremendous interest in people and would know everything about them. He told me ‘This city is all about knowing people, it is the biggest small city you will ever have the pleasure to work in.' Guy was, by far, one of most unique, talented, funny, and caring people that I had the pleasure to know and call a friend." - USCM Assistant Executive Director and former intern Judy Sheahan

"He was such a giving person that he would help you out in any way he could. It is the one thing I will never forget. He gave and gave and gave and he never ever wanted anything back from anybody." - National Association of Counties Legislative Director Ed Rosado (who worked with Guy in their earlier careers on Puerto Rico)

"Everything for Guy revolved around the newspaper…and the brilliance of this man was demonstrated. He could pay attention to what you were saying and what you needed to say and what how it needed to be conveyed to the people that mattered the most to him." - U.S. Mayor Art Director/Production Manager Wendy L. Wilkerson

"It was pure Guy to connect his circles of friends…and when I look over the crowd here and I recognize so many because of Guy. What a wonderful man." - Barbara Dill, friend of Guy's from Alexandria

"Everybody I talked to [about Guy] had a tear in their eye but with that tear was also a smile - they went together - it really showed the type of person that Guy was." - Kevin Carstens, Nephew

"What was important to Guy was that ‘giving back'. That is what he instilled in all of us. And so if you ever benefited from him in any shape or form, pay it forward." - Carrie Wall, Niece

"I look out and see friends of mine and past interns that were here before me. And that really says a lot. Guy was with us [the interns] for ten weeks but he touched us for the rest of the lives. That was his biggest gift. Education was big for him and most importantly for the interns, it wasn't just what he could teach us but what he could learn from us." - USCM Director of Internet Strategy and former intern David Burns

"I never met a person who was less interested in money or power than Guy Smith. He was interested in service, friendship, and a good sense of humor. You couldn't help laughing when you were with Guy. He made our lives better and he is up there in heaven making it a better place to be." - former Governor of Puerto Rico and former Mayor of San Juan Carlos Romero-Barcelo

"Guy Smith is a living legend. He had a great belief in public service. We do public service because we believe in it and that we write the stories that need to be told. Thank God that Guy Smith wrote a lot of history for all of us." - former Mayor of East Orange (NJ) Cardell Cooper