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He could amuse them or stir a few to irascible letter-writing with a column on his lifelong wariness of cats. His use of the language was meticulous, his manners were graceful-both in print and in public-and his middle-aged fascination with the trivia of a changing world was a constant delight to his readers. “I may,” he warned, “turn senile overnight.” For most of his career, he wrote five columns a week. After about 6,000 columns over 30 years, bowing only slightly to declining health, Smith cut back in 1992 from four columns a week to one, which appeared on Mondays. Smith’s column, which had appeared in The Times since 1958, was distributed to almost 600 newspapers worldwide by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. As a columnist, obviously one of a kind.” San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen said Smith “was just like his writing: slightly crotchety, a bit put off by what is going on, always ready for an argument, extremely dry in the wit department-and yet, altogether lovable. “Most of all though, was this: It was throughout a candid and funny and touching chronicle of his own life and, in these last months, of his approaching death.” “His simple prose, unassuming and yet pointed, appeared effortless, but it was the result, like all fine writing, of very hard work. “Jack wrote with unfailing grace and clarity, and did so with amazing consistency,” Thomas said. To say that “the saga of Jack Smith, told over these many years in the pages of this newspaper, will be missed is to sadly understate our loss,” said former Times Editor William F. “The column expertly reflected the key qualities that made the man beloved as a writer and colleague it had sly elegance, genteel self-mockery and keen observations of the life he loved in ever-surprising Southern California.” Smith’s column “has been one of the abiding highlights of the Los Angeles Times,” said Editor and Executive Vice President Shelby Coffey III. He observed and wrote about everyday life with humanity and humor, turning phrases with a style that is unmatched.” Schlosberg III said Smith’s “impeccable use of language and his gentle, urbane style were flawless, and yet his manner was one of humility and great kindness.
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Times Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Richard T.