Smith Bagley

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = | image = | office = Finance Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee | status = | president = | term_start = 1975 | term_end = 1979 | succeeding = | predecessor = | successor = | office1 = | alongside1 = | president1 = | term_start1 = | term_end1 = | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | birth_date = {{birth date|1935|4|1}} | birth_place = New York City, US | death_date = {{death date and age|2010|1|2|1935|4|1}} | death_place = St. Simons Island, Georgia, US | party = | education = | appointer = }} '''Smith Walker Bagley''' (April 1, 1935 – January 2, 2010)<ref name=":02"/><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Hinton |first=John |date=2010-01-05 |title=Bagley, had strong local ties, dies at 74 |url=https://journalnow.com/bagley-had-strong-local-ties-dies-at-74/article_aa5bcbb5-d2a4-5b51-b134-39968cf7077c.html |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Winston-Salem Journal |language=en}}</ref> was an American businessman, Democratic fundraiser and party executive, and socialite. He was an heir to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco fortune, and was married to US Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Patricia |date=2010-01-04 |title=Smith Bagley dies at 74; Democratic fundraiser, socialite |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010302036.html |access-date=2023-07-31 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

== Early life and personal life == Smith Bagley was born in New York<ref name=":02"/> to Nancy Susan Reynolds, the daughter of R. J. Reynolds, and Henry Walker Bagley, a businessman from Greenwich, Connecticut.<ref name="winston-salem">{{cite book |last=Tursi |first=Frank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQTmb8DBvIMC |title=Winston-Salem: A History |publisher=John F. Blair, publisher |year=1994 |isbn=9780895871152 |pages=110–11, 183}}</ref> He was a graduate of Washington and Lee University.<ref name=":3" />

Bagley had homes in the Massachusetts towns of Georgetown and Nantucket, and also owned the Reynolds family estate, Musgrove on St. Simons Island. The family estate was the site of Jimmy Carter's first pre-inauguration meeting, and was later a regular retreat for Democratic policymakers and activists.<ref name=":02"/>

Bagley first married Sandra Peabody Robinson,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bachrach |first=Special to The New York Times Bradford |date=1957-06-15 |title=Miss Sandra Marshall Peabody Is Wed In Wilton Ceremony to Smith W. Bagley; Schubert--Greene |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/06/15/archives/miss-sandra-marshall-peabody-is-wed-in-wilton-ceremony-to-smith-w.html |access-date=2025-03-11 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> however, the relationship later ended in divorce.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Patricia |date=3 January 2010 |title=Tobacco heir became Democratic fundraiser |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2010/01/04/tobacco-heir-became-democratic-fundraiser/eba9276f-01ac-4320-af1c-bcbf737699ca/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

In 1966, he married Vicki Lynn Ladmer, whom he also later divorced.<ref>{{cite news |title=Smith W. Bagley Wed in Colorado |work=Winston-Salem Journal |date=September 11, 1966 |location=Winston-Salem, North Carolina |page=C2}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

He married Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, the daughter of Judge John D. Frawley and Rosemary Frawley, nearly twenty years his junior, in 1983.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Berry |first=John F. |date=1979-08-02 |title=Smith Bagley, Four Others Acquitted in U.S. Court |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/02/smith-bagley-four-others-acquitted-in-us-court/ca98162a-7bc9-46b9-941c-f5a36fd8ddf8/ |access-date=2023-07-31 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

== Career == Bagley joined the Democratic Party at age 17, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the North Carolina State House of Representatives in 1968.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=2010-01-06 |title=Smith Bagley, Executive and Democratic Fund-Raiser, Dies at 74 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/us/06bagley.html |access-date=2023-07-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Bagley later served as finance vice chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1975 to 1979.<ref name=":02"/>

Bagley joined the U.S. Army Reserve in his twenties, eventually reaching the rank of captain.<ref name=":02"/>

Bagley was a supporter of Jimmy Carter in 1976, and campaigned for him.<ref name=":1" /> He was a member of the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,<ref name=":2" /> after being appointed by Jimmy Carter.

In 1989, Bagley founded Smith Bagley Inc. (SBI), trading as Cellular One of North East Arizona, and served as an executive until his death.<ref name=":2" /> His family are the co-owners of SBI.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ownership Disclosure Filing |url=http://wireless2.fcc.gov/ownerQryDetail/ownership-search-results-detail.htm?applId=9443259 |website=Federal Communications Commission |access-date=1 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920225010/http://wireless2.fcc.gov/ownerQryDetail/ownership-search-results-detail.htm?applId=9443259 |archive-date=Sep 20, 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ownership - Smith Bagley, Inc. |url=https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentViewRD.jsp;ATTACHMENTS=SpGg72eZycA8MO7XjwcE8YreXNhT_IiTEmh6yUBg0DdgVnb-Epzr!1339101470!-1773655684?applType=search&fileKey=6055112&attachmentKey=19853374&attachmentInd=applAttach |website=FCC |access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref>

In the 1990s, Bagley worked with Terry McAuliffe to create the first database of Democratic Party members.<ref name=":02"/> Bagley and his wife fundraised the maximum $600,000 for President Obama's inauguration from 2008 to 2009.<ref name=":02"/>

=== Philanthropy ===

Bagley was the longest-serving trustee of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, serving for 50 years, and as the organization's president 1971 to 1975 and from 1983 to 1987.<ref name="zsr.org">{{Cite web |title=Tribute to Smith Bagley {{!}} Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation |url=https://www.zsr.org/articles/tribute-smith-bagley |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=www.zsr.org}}</ref>

In 1987, Bagley founded the Brenn Foundation, a public policy 501(c)(3) non-profit.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Andrea Suozzo, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Brandon |date=2013-05-09 |title=The Brenn Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521490106 |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=ProPublica |language=en}}</ref> He served as president of the Arca Foundation in the 1980s.<ref name=":02"/> His daughter Nicole Bagley now serves as the president of both the Brenn and Arca foundations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scutari |first=Mike |date=2024-11-19 |title=What's Next for the Arca Foundation? |url=https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/whats-next-for-the-arca-foundation |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Inside Philanthropy |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lamkin |first=Leslie |date=2018-08-30 |title=Musings About Musgrove |url=https://www.goldenislesmagazine.com/features/musings-about-musgrove/article_9caae20c-a7bf-11e8-be02-a3bf4999c4a9.html |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Golden Isles Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

== Scandals == ===Washington Group Inc. scandal===

In early 1977, Bagley was indicted on federal charges of stock manipulation and conspiracy. The government alleged that between 1974 and 1975, Bagley and four others manipulated the stock of Washington Group Inc., a textile and food conglomerate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which Bagley was president of.<ref name=":1" /> The company went bankrupt in 1977. Bagley and the others were acquitted on August 2, 1979.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1979-07-17 |title=Reynolds Tobacco Heir And 4 Others Go on Trial in Stock Maneuvers Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/17/archives/reynolds-tobacco-heir-and-4-others-go-on-trial-in-stock-maneuvers.html |access-date=2025-03-11 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Later, in 1980, Bagley settled a civil lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, for artificially inflating the company's stockprice, for an unknown amount.<ref name=":02"/>

===Scott Wallace South Africa Ambassadorial appointment scandal===

In 2008, Bagley recommended Scott Wallace, an heir to former Vice President Henry Wallace, to be Ambassador to South Africa to Barack Obama. Wallace asked for the ambassadorial appointment himself at Bagley's urging. WikiLeaks leaked the emails and communications about Wallace's potential appointment in 2008, causing a small scandal, and Wallace did not receive the appointment as a result.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mikelionis |first=Lukas |date=2018-09-06 |title=Top Dem candidate who said money 'corrupts' politics donated $100G to Obama and asked for US ambassadorship |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-dem-candidate-who-said-money-corrupts-politics-donated-100g-to-obama-and-asked-for-us-ambassadorship |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Death == Smith Bagley died at Suburban Hospital after suffering from a stroke at his home on St. Simons Island in Georgia on January 2, 2010, at the age of seventy-four.<ref name=":02"/><ref name="zsr.org"/><ref name=":3" />

== References ==

Category:1935 births Category:2010 deaths Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:21st-century American businesspeople Category:American business executives Category:New York (state) Democrats Category:Washington and Lee University alumni