While you may know him as the leader of the Chester County Economic Development Council, Gary Smith is still a farmer in every sense of the word, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Smith grew up in the New Garden area shucking corn and milking cows on his family’s farm. He attended what’s now West Chester University for a bachelor’s in planning, and ended up working for the Gagliardi family as a meat shoveler, filling two hopper bins with twelve tons of ground beef a day.
The Gagliardis helped him land a position with the CCEDC, and two years later in 1978, he was named executive director with a whopping $7,200 per year salary. Now with 50 years under his belt, Smith is stepping away from leadership and passing the baton to Michael Grigalonis, his second in command. Meanwhile, he plans to stay on as a strategist to continue overseeing the legacy he helped build.
Throughout the decades, his dedication transformed the county into the wealthy, prosperous Chesco we know today. But it wasn’t easy.
As more businesses started to move into the suburbs, the council recognized the need for education and real estate for both living and employment. Smith worked together with Vanguard’s Jack Bogle, and also drew more employers to the area through council policies and programs like Agconnect for agriculture.
Despite all accomplishments, he still sees room for change. Chester County has goal of 33 percent open space, and as real estate prices rise, once busy industrial complexes are being renovated into apartments. Smith poses the question of where will employers work and people live?
Read more about Gary Smith stepping down as CEO of CCEDC on July 1 at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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