Zachary Smith Reynolds

Zachary "ZACH-O" Smith Reynolds (November 5, 1911 - July 6, 1932)
American amateur aviator and R. J. Reynolds heir

Family

Smith (also known as Z. Smith Reynolds, or just Smith) was the youngest son of R. J. Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Mary Katherine Smith.

He married Anne Ludlow Cannon (August 31, 1910 - June 21, 1961) in York, South Carolina November 16, 1929 soon after he turned eighteen at her father's insistence. She was the daughter of Joseph Franklin Cannon (July 23, 1876 - June 21, 1939) of the Cannon Mills fortune and Annie Hunt Ludlow (December 9, 1887 - March 10, 1965). They had a daughter known as Anne Cannon II (August 23, 1930 - May 11, 2003). They were divorced in Reno, Nevada November 23, 1931. Anne married Charlotte, North Carolina realtor Frank Brandon Smith, Jr. (May 21, 1906 - June 25, 1967) in 1934 and they were later divorced.

Smith Reynolds married Broadway theatre actress Libby Holman Sunday November 29, 1931 in the parlor of Monroe, Michigan Justice of the Peace Fred M. Schoepfer, just days after his divorce from Anne was final. Libby gave birth to Christopher Smith "Topper" Reynolds three months prematurely on January 11, 1933 in Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, weighing 3.5 pounds. Christopher graduated near the top of his class from The Putney School in Vermont in June 1949 where he served as chairman of the student council.

Biography

Smith was an avid aviator as was older brother "Dick". Smith bought a S.56C
amphibian biplane built by American Aeronautical Corporation in Port Washington, New York under license from Italian manufacturer Savoia-Marchetti in the spring of 1931, it was customized for him to have a single seat and extra fuel capacity as he planned to fly it around the world.After a couple aborted starts Smith began this flight attempt in December 1931 right after his marriage to Libby. She was touring the United States in a road production of "Three's A Crowd", reprising her Broadway theatre role. His solo flight was not really publicized and he was completing the ocean portions via boat. His flight journal survives.

Death

Reynolds died under mysterious circumstances of an automatic .32 caliber Mauser pistol shot through his head on the early morning of July 6th, after a 21st birthday party for his friend Charles Gideon Hill, Jr. (July 5, 1911 - October 18, 1960), who was also Anne Cannon Reynolds's first cousin, at his Winston-Salem, North Carolina estate known as Reynolda. His wife Libby Holman Reynolds was pregnant with their child.

Smith was reportedly found bleeding and unconscious by his boyhood friend and personal assistant Albert Bailey "Ab" Walker (December 10,1909 in Chicago, Illinois - August 2, 1954) who died of lung cancer at North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, North Carolina), and with the help of his wife, Libby Holman Reynolds, they brought him to North Carolina Baptist Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:25AM on July 6th. Both were considered suspects in his death and were both indicted for first-degree murder of Reynolds. His siblings established a trust in his name that provided for his namesake foundation.

Legacy

Many things in the Winston-Salem, NC area are named for him. The local airport (Smith Reynolds Airport), [http://zsr.wfu.edu/ a library at Wake Forest University] , as well as a nonprofit charitable [http://www.zsr.org/ local foundation] named in his honor.

References

* Reynolds, Patrick and Shachtman, Tom, "The Gilded Leaf" , iUniverse, Inc., 2006, ISBN 0-595-36658-9
* Machlin, Milt, "Libby", Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc., 1990, ISBN 0-8439-3028-4

External links

* [http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/Page/WSJ_ContentPage&c=Page&cid=1173351970597 Winston-Salem Journal Series Death at Reynolda - Z. Smith Reynolds]
* [http://www.zsr.org/ The Z Smith Reynolds Foundation]
* [http://www.smithreynolds.org/ Z. Smith Reynolds Airport]
* [http://www.paulbowles.org/photosjanebowles.html/ Biography of Libby Holman Reynolds on the official Jane Bowles site]
*cite news
author=
title=Reynolds v. Reynolds
date=1933-01-23
work=Time Magazine
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744981-1,00.html
accessdate=2008-08-09
*ibdb name | id=22947 | name=Libby Holman
*imdb name | id=2071916 | name=Libby Holman
* [http://www.aviastar.org/air/italy/savoia_s-56.php Savoia-Marchetti S.56]