My friend Ron Smith has died.? For those that do not live in Baltimore, the Ron Smith show was the leading radio show in Baltimore.? I had the rare opportunity of being on the show three times out of the last three years.? Even better, I was able to do it in the studio with Ron.? The best times that I had when on WBAL were during the commercial breaks, where Ron and I would discuss issues that were far beyond what we were talking about to listeners.

Ron Smith was an intensely bright man.? He was an agnostic, though one that respected religious belief; his opinions outside religion were highly reliable.? He told me that I was doing “God’s work” for raising my eight children.

I will miss Ron.? He was the sort of person that I would have liked to have developed a deeper relationship with, but that was not possible because he was far more busy than I am. We corresponded over a number of issues over the years, and I always learned something from him.

Baltimore will be a poorer place without Ron Smith.