New Delhi : Historian of Delhi R. V. Smith dead

•  IFWJ veteran R. V. Smith dead

The Indian Federation of Working Journalists deeply mourns the death  here today of veteran journalist and historian Ronald Vivian Smith, 82. He had worked for the Statesman, the Times of India and the Hindustan Times. He was born in Agra. His father Mr. Thomas Smith and brother Neville were builders of the IFWJ unit in Agra. A 50-year old Hindi newspaper clipping is attached, giving results of the Agra Union of Working Journalists, Thomas Smith was general Secretary. Its joint secretary was Com. Haseeb Siddiqi, then a youth, now President of the U.P. WJU.  Mr. Thomas Smith had represented Allahabad’s Pioneer and Kolkata’s the Statesman in Agra. That was the year (1970) when IFWJ national secretary was Com. K. Vikram Rao (Times of India in Ahmedabad).

About Ronald Smith it is said that all the authors who made Delhi the central theme of their literary lives, was the most intriguing. He had given much to the city, but the city has held back. Author of several slim volumes on Delhi’s monuments and street life, Smith had also produced novels and poetry. Yet he had been denied the eminence enjoyed by other Delhi chroniclers such as Ahmad Ali, Khushwant Singh and William Dalrymple.

Smith wrote on a typewriter but spoke in long sentences as if he was dictating a book. He liked to have biryani with beer.
Born in Agra, Ronald Smith’s father, Thomas, was the district correspondent for two dailies: Kolkata’s The Statesman and Allahabad’s The Pioneer. Smith was the oldest among his two brothers (Neville and Ivan) After graduating from English literature in Agra’s St John’s College, he came to Delhi in 1961 and became a ‘sub-editor-cum-reporter’ in the Press Trust of India. Two years later, he joined The Statesman and retired as news editor in 1997. Columns continued to appear in The Hindu (Monday) and The Statesman (Thursday). He had been a columnist with the Statesman since 1984. Some of his books are: Tales the Monuments Tell, Glimpses of Delhi, Lesser Known Monuments of Delhi, Delhi Vignettes and The Delhi That No One Knows.

•  Issued by :  Vipin Dhuliya, Secy. Gen.