Arthur Smith, who for many years was the Financial Times’s Midland’s correspondent, died last month. He was 56.
Smith began his career in journalism as a trainee reporter at the Northampton Chronicle & Echo in 1968
after completing a degree in government at the London School of Economics.
During his two years at the paper, he specialised in industrial news.
He was an active Labour Party supporter and stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Northampton North constituency.
He married Northampton primary school teacher Julie Haycock.
He first joined the FT in 1971 then, after a brief career change in 1973 when he became a personal assistant at a Northampton building company, he returned to the paper in 1975, becoming transport correspondent and Midlands correspondent. During this time he was named Industrial Journalist of the Year.
He also became a research fellow at Warwick University Management School.
He left the FT in 1986 to become a stockbrokers’ analyst before setting up a public relations business in Solihull, Birmingham.
Smith married his second wife, Averil, in 1983, a few years after separating from his first wife.
Averil said: “He was well loved by everyone and had a wonderful reputation in the world of journalism. Arthur was very ambitious but he always had time for his family and had a wonderful sense of humour. He will be sadly missed by everyone.”
He leaves a daughter, Sarah, from his marriage with Averil, and a son and daughter, James and Kate, from his first marriage.
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