William Smith

Early life and education William Smith was born on 25 June 1939.

During his time at school and university, Smith showed an interest in film and camerawork, scripting, shooting, and producing the 50-minute feature documentary, ‘The Garden Route,’ in 1960. The film was digitised and relaunched in 2010.

He started working at African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI). The aim of these schools is to provide value-for-money supplementary education with top-class teachers to prepare learners for their matriculation exams. During the next 25 years, Smith became famous throughout South Africa, winning a 'Teacher of the Year' award in 1991. with the financial backing of Hylton Appelbaum, then executive director of the Liberty Life Foundation. As a result of his work on this programme, Smith was voted as one of the top three presenters on South African television in 1998.

Other achievements Smith was also a renowned conservationist and owned the Featherbed Nature Reserve in Knysna, where he lived until the sale of the land and company in 2008. He was also the owner of 'Rivercat Ferries', which has several craft that cruise in the Knysna lagoon and out to sea.

He appeared along with Jeremy Mansfield in the popular South African television quiz show, A Word or 2. Smith was also a judge for the Miss South Africa Pageant in 1998 and 1999.

Death Smith died in Perth, Australia on 21 August 2024, at the age of 85. The cause of death was cancer.

Awards and recognition