Ex-W.Va. governor Hulett Smith dies

Former West Virginia Gov. Hulett C. Smith, who signed bills in the 1960s that abolished the state's death penalty and implemented its first strip mining laws, has died. He was 93.

Smith's family said Monday that the former governor died Sunday in Arizona, where he had moved to an assisted-living facility last fall.

Smith, a Democrat, first ran for governor in 1960, but failed to win his party's nomination. He was elected four years later, at a time when governors were limited to a single term.

During his tenure as the state's 27th governor, the Legislature enacted measures to control air and water pollution and to protect human rights.

When he signed the bill ending the death penalty, Smith noted West Virginia was the ninth state to do so and said it would prevent wrongful convictions leading to executions.

Born in Beckley on Oct. 21, 1918, Smith was the offspring of a political family. His father, Joe L. Smith, served eight terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1929 to 1944, and founded Beckley's first radio station, WJLS, in 1939. -- AP