The late journalist C. Fraser Smith. Publicity photo for "The Daily Miracle."
The intersecting worlds of Maryland journalism and politics are mourning C. Fraser Smith, a longtime chronicler of state government and politics who died Sunday after suffering a massive stroke earlier this month. He was 83.
Smith arrived at The Baltimore Sun in 1977 after stints at The Jersey Journal in Jersey City, N.J., and The Providence Journal in Providence, R.I. He quickly became a fixture on the political beat, reporting on Baltimore City Hall, the federal government and the Maryland State House, writing daily stories, political analysis, investigative pieces and commentary. He broke news, led coverage, revealed character traits, explained trends, won awards, and consistently delivered clean, elegant and incisive prose.
But Smith often wanted to delve deeper into the subjects he covered, so he also wrote books: One on the death of University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias (“Lenny, Lefty and the Chancellor: The Len Bias Tragedy and the Search for Reform in Big-Time College Basketball”). One on the late governor and Baltimore mayor William Donald Schaefer (“William Donald Schaefer: A Political Biography”). And one a look at the civil rights movement in Maryland (“Here Lies Jim Crow: Civil Rights in Maryland”).
