Roy J. Smith, former executive director-treasurer (EDT) of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC), died Thurs., Oct. 18. He was in declining health for more than two months according to his widow, Charlotte Smith.
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Smith, a Macon County, N.C., native, died at Brookridge Baptist Retirement Community in Winston-Salem. He was a graduate of Wake Forest College (now university), and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He completed additional graduate studies at North Carolina State University and Emory University. He holds two honorary doctorates of divinity from Wake Forest University and Campbell University.
Smith pastored Union Hope Baptist Church in Zebulon (1954-’57) and Jersey Baptist Church in Lexington (1957-’62) before being hired at the BSC, where he served from 1962 to 1997. He held positions as associate in missions, secretary, town and country missions and seminary extension, and associate general secretary-treasurer. When EDT Cecil Ray resigned his post in 1983, Smith was named interim EDT and elected EDT a year later. He led the North Carolina convention for 13 years.
In 1984 Smith was elected executive director-treasurer of the BSC, a role he filled until his retirement in 1997. He was recognized as North Carolina State and Southeastern regional rural pastor of the year in 1962 and as Tarheel of the Week in 1984.
Smith served on the Board of Trustees at Wake Forest University as well as played an integral role in the foundation of Wake Forest University Divinity School and Campbell Divinity School. He served as a member of the coordinating council for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina and was the National Cooperative Baptist Fellowship representative to the Baptist World Alliance.
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m., Sat., Oct. 27 at First Baptist Church (FBC) in Winston-Salem, with a reception to follow in FBC’s Kelly Auditorium.
He is survived by his wife of 14 years, Charlotte Cook Smith; three children, Ginger Graves, Roy Smith Jr., and Tracy Smith; Charlotte’s two children, Steve (Sheryl) Cook and Ann Parker; eleven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; brother, Johnny Smith; and two sisters, Lib Pierce and Peggy Clevenger.
Memorials to: Wake Forest University Divinity School (P.O. Box 7227, Winston-Salem, NC 27109), the Capital Campaign at First Baptist Church (501 West Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101), or Brookridge Retirement Home (1199 Hayes Forest Dr., Winston-Salem, NC 27106).