Veteran newsman Smith dies at 85

Veteran newspaperman Robert James Smith, 85, died Thursday at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.

Smith, 85, of Vernon Hills, formerly of Wilmette, was one of the Chicago American newsmen who helped expose the Bridey Murphy hoax in the 1950s.

“He always impressed on us that he was an ordinary man who could go into extraordinary places, said his daughter, Robin Smith Kollman.

His career began in 1942, when he was a copyboy for the former City News Bureau in Chicago.

After serving in the U.S. Navy Seabees for two years, he resumed his career at City News, quickly rising to the position of night editor.

“He was one of the youngest at 21 to hold that job, his daughter said. “He was very bright, very creative. He was also a very hard worker.

One of the biggest stories he covered was the LaSalle Hotel fire in Chicago, which claimed nearly 60 lives in 1946.

In 1947, he became a rewriteman and reporter for the Hearst-owned Chicago Herald-American.

In the 1950s, while working for the paper that was then renamed the Chicago American, he helped uncover one of the biggest hoaxes of the decade.

In 1952, a woman named Virginia Tighe said that under hypnosis she had regressed to a past life as a 19th-Century Irish woman named Bridey Murphy. The details were published in a book called “The Search for Bridey Murphy, which became a best-seller.

But soon the Chicago American published a series of article debunking Tighe's claims, revealing facts from her real life that were woven into her supposed-former life.

Across the street where Tighe grew up was an Irish family that included a woman whose maiden name was Bridie Murphy.

“My dad was the reporter that found a woman named Bridie Murphy who had grown up across the street from Virginia in Chicago, said Smith Kollman. “That was his 15 minutes of fame.

Smith later worked as an editor at the American, its successor, Chicago Today and the Chicago Tribune, until 1990.

During his retirement, he indulged his hobby of boating. His son, Glenn Smith, said his father was an avid boater who loved to visit Lake Delavan, Wis.

“He just had the time of his life on that boat, said his son.

Smith is survived by his wife of 60 years, Isabell, his two children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Smith's life will be at 3 p.m. on Oct. 22 at Christ Church Lake Forest, 100 N. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest.