A Giant has Fallen
11/07/2008

On November 6, our and the nation's electric cooperative program lost a true giant with the passing of J.K. Smith. He was 92.

J.K. Smith began his co-op career in 1938, at age 21, as manager of Fleming-Mason RECC in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. Under his leadership, it became one of the largest systems in the nation. Smith left Fleming-Mason in 1948 to help organize and serve as the first executive manager of the Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (today known as KAEC). With his vision and guidance, the statewide developed numerous member services, including an extensive manufacturing and sales program (today known as United Utility Supply). He also started Kentucky's Rural Cooperatives Credit Union.

During his career, Smith was involved in numerous activities that affected every segment of the rural electric industry. He was an organizer and secretary-treasurer of East Kentucky Power Cooperative in Winchester, Kentucky. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Central Area Data Processing Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri. He was also one of the organizers, a former director and past president of the Electric Research and Manufacturing Cooperative in Dyersburg, Tennessee. He spearheaded a drive in Kentucky to furnish obsolete and outgrown materials to construct a rural electric cooperative in Ecuador and made the original feasibility study to bring rural electrification to the Mekong Delta area of Thailand.

One of Smith’s greatest achievements was undoubtedly the work that led to the creation of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) and its establishment as a viable institution. “J. K. had a presence. People respected him immediately,” said his successor, Charles B. Gill. “There were people in our program who did not love him, but they did respect him. He was a real innovator, and he could visualize and create something. He created the statewide in Kentucky. He created the materials supply organization in Kentucky. He created CFC. His leadership at the time he was governor was very important.”

CFC’s board of directors recognized Smith’s contributions by naming the CFC headquarters buildings, both in Georgetown and Herndon, after him and by recognizing him with the CFC Pioneer Award during the 50th anniversary celebration of rural electrification.

Throughout his career, Smith received many honors and awards. In 1966, he received special recognition from U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk for outstanding work in bringing rural electrification to other nations of the world. In 1967, the president of Ecuador presented him with the highest award that country can present to a citizen of another nation. He was the recipient of the Rural Electrification Administration’s Distinguished Service Award in 1977. In 1979, he received the Co-op Career Award from the Cooperative League of the U.S.A. for his outstanding leadership and contributions to the cooperative movement. In addition, J.K. Smith was honored in 2003 as a pioneering cooperative leader by being inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame.

"Perhaps J. K. Smith’s most impressive quality was his vision combined with his tenacious, never-wavering commitment to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reason," says current Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives President Ron Sheets.

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