Over some 55 years, he was a caring friend to a wide range of people and a guiding leader for several generations of journalists. My own involvement with Bud goes back 50 of those years to when I was hired as a copy boy by the Star-Bulletin, where he was assistant city editor. He was central in my moving up to cub reporter and later to the prime labor and politics beats. In the process, he was also an aloha-minded leader who often entertained staffers with prime steaks and good scotch at his home. That same warmth to newcomers and old friends continued until his death yesterday at age 80.
Many younger journalists prefer to keep a judgmental distance from community involvement.
It's a view I have shared, even if it can seem a cop-out at times. But Smyser, like Allen and Chaplin, came from a different and older school that fit Hawai'i well in the post-World War II era. It often seemed they were at every important breakfast, lunch, dinner meeting and reception, bridging various racial groups in the process. Both as an editor and a columnist, Bud had his favorite issues. With Riley Allen, he pushed statehood to the max.