Ed Smith Worked With Gospel Music

DETROIT - Edward Smith didn't sing professionally, but he had gospel music in his soul.

As the longtime business manager for legendary gospel singer James Cleveland, who died in 1991, and as executive director of the 25,000-member national Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA), Mr. Smith helped spread the good news of gospel music.

"Ed was a builder," said gospel composer and artist Quincy Fielding Jr. "He was able to bridge the gap. He included white artists and industry officials in what we were doing, and he made sure that GMWA members were a part of the mainstream recording industry."

Mr. Smith lectured and consulted on gospel music and was assistant musical consultant for "The Mad Messiah," a 1980 television special on the life of cult leader Jim Jones.

Mr. Smith, of Detroit, who also owned florist shops in the city, died Monday at Botsford General Hospital in Farmington Hills, Mich., after an apparent heart attack. He was 59.

At Atlanta's Georgia Dome on Saturday night, one of his last projects is to come to fruition, a fitting tribute: a 13,000-voice choir is to sing in concert, including 3,000 singers that Mr. Smith pulled together from Georgia and Alabama along with the 10,000-member World Choir from Europe.

Another recent project was helping gospel singer Bill Gaither tape a documentary about gospel pioneers. The video is to be released in August.

A memorial gospel musical and funeral will be held next week

in Detroit.