Blanford Tiemann Smith, known as Toby throughout his life, died of a stroke on Feb. 18, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s/Dementia. He was 78.
Toby Smith, 78, died on Feb. 18. His funeral, on Saturday, March 15, will be livestreamed from Albuquerque.
He was the son of Royall and Marie Smith, formerly of Darien. During the 1950s and 1960s Toby lived on Christie Hill Road.
After attending Holmes School and Middlesex Junior High, he attended and graduated from Darien High School in 1964, after which he went on to study journalism at the University of Missouri, receive a master’s degree from New York University and became a successful writer of nonfiction.
He worked in various capacities for New Mexico’s Albuquerque Journal over a 30-year period. During this time, he may have been the most decorated Albuquerque journalist in history — receiving dozens of local, state, regional and national writing awards. For eight years he wrote a bi-weekly column. At other times he reported on sports, was a features writer and on numerous occasions wrote articles about New Mexico celebrities he had interviewed.
After leaving the Journal he frequently wrote on a freelance basis for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other national publications. He taught journalism to graduate students at the University of New Mexico for several years.
From 1998 until 2003 he attended Ohio State on a James Thurber Fellowship, spent time in Bucharest, Romania on a Fulbright grant, worked as a copy editor for the International Herald Tribune in Paris and taught journalism in Seoul, Korea. During his writing career he wrote 11 nonfiction books which were commercially published on a variety of subjects, including boxing, extraterrestrial aliens and Railway Express
While at Darien High School he lettered in swimming and tennis, where he was a member of the tennis team that won many of the 100 straight dual matches in a row against other high schools that many from Darien still brag about. After relocating to New Mexico in 1976, Toby became a dedicated runner, winning dozens of road races in his age group and hiked up some of the tallest mountains in the West.
He is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Susan; his sons, Jedediah and Carson; his brother, Tom; his younger sister, Julie L’Heureux; and half-sister, Felicia Smith. Another sister, Polly Smith, predeceased him.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m, March 15 at First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The service will be streamed on the FPV You Tube channel as well. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to First Presbyterian Church deacon fund or the Menaul Historical Library, 301 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107.
— an obituary posted by the Darien Times on Legacy.com, where online condolences may be left