Leaders pay tribute to Smith

The Nash County Business Development Authority sponsored a ceremony May 12 to dedicate a monument at the Whitakers Business and Industry Center to honor the late Jimmie D. Smith Jr. for his support of economic development efforts in Nash County and Eastern North Carolina.

Smith served as president of the Business Development Authority and chairman of North Carolina’s Eastern Region. In this capacity, his vision and influence were critical in helping to create Whitakers Business and Industry Center near the Battleboro community. Smith was a key player in acquiring property and recruiting new businesses to the business and industry center. The center in now the site of the McLane Corporation, LS Tractor, Rexam, the Cheesecake Factory Bakery, Draka Elevator and Poppies Bakery.

Robbie Davis, chairman of the Nash County Board of Commissioners, praised Smith for his genuine concern for assisting the community.

“Mr. Smith has spent many hours on the development of the Whitakers industrial park,” Davis said, “and his vision of what it would take for Nash County to bring new jobs to our area is now very clear to all of us as we look at the seven industries currently located in this park.”

Rocky Mount Mayor David Combs also remembered Smith as a mentor and an individual who was passionate in his support of Nash County.

“Jimmie was not only a business partner of mine, but somebody that was very instumental in establishing the Whitakers Business and Industry Center,” Combs said. “He really loved Nash County and Rocky Mount and did a lot of things behind the scenes for Nash County and Rocky Mount that probably a lot of people don’t know about – he was always somewhere in the background, trying to work things out to move Nash County and Rocky Mount forward in terms of economic development.”