Smith Bagley

Smith Walker Bagley (April 1, 1935 – January 2, 2010) 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.

Early life and personal life Smith Bagley was born in New York He was a graduate of Washington and Lee University. however, the relationship later ended in divorce.

In 1966, he married Vicki Lynn Ladmer, whom he also later divorced.

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. Bagley later served as finance vice chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1975 to 1979.

In the 1990s, Bagley worked with Terry McAuliffe to create the first database of Democratic Party members.

In 1987, Bagley founded the Brenn Foundation, a public policy 501(c)(3) non-profit. He served as president of the Arca Foundation in the 1980s.

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.

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.

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.