Ex-GM CEO, Chairman Smith Dead at 82

Unwitting Roger and Me costar led auto giant throughout 1980s
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2007 12:33 PM CST
Ex-GM CEO, Chairman Smith Dead at 82
Former General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Roger Smith, left, is escorted by an unidentified man on a tour of a Saturn auto plant in this Mar. 14, 1991 file photo. Smith, who led General Motors Corp. in the 1980s and was the subject of Michael Moore's searing documentary "Roger and Me," has...   (Associated Press)

Roger B. Smith, the chairman of General Motors from 1981 to 1990 and the subject of Michael Moore's critical documentary Roger and Me, died yesterday in Detroit at 82. "He was a leader who knew that we have to accept change, understand change, and learn to make it work for us," said current GM CEO Rick Wagoner.

A GM employee for over 40 years, Smith led the auto giant while Japanese brands were gaining traction in the American market and presided over the launch of the Saturn brand. "Roger was truly a pioneer in the fast-moving global industry that we now take for granted," says Wagoner. In Roger and Me, Moore documented his attempts to interview Smith after GM's job cuts devastated his hometown, Flint, Mich. (More Roger Smith stories.)

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