B. Smith, restaurateur and lifestyle maven, dies at 70

Barbara “B.” Smith, a steelworker’s daughter who became one of the top black models on magazine covers in the 1970s and later parlayed her glamour and personality into ventures as a restaurateur, TV host and lifestyle maven, died Feb. 22 at her home in East Hampton, New York. She was 70.

Her death was announced in a statement by her family. Smith was diagnosed in 2013 with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and closed her restaurants – in Manhattan, on Long Island and at Union Station in Washington, D.C. – over the next two years. She went on to champion Alzheimer’s research with her husband and caretaker, Dan Gasby, with whom she published a 2016 book, “Before I Forget.”

Smith – she shortened her first name to the initial “B.” during her modeling career – was widely regarded as a leading African American entrepreneur in fields that had long been unwelcoming to minorities.

She wrote books, started a magazine and had a syndicated TV show, all focused on entertainment and hostessing. Although her audiences transcended race, she often was described as a “black Martha Stewart.” Smith said she found the comparison “a little tired.”

“Martha Stewart has presented herself doing the things domestics and African Americans have done for years,” she once told New York magazine. “We were always expected to redo the chairs and use everything in the garden. This is the legacy that I was left. Martha just got there first.”

In her youth, Smith enjoyed cooking and sewing but felt unwanted at the 4-H club in her hometown in western Pennsylvania.