It was fun. I would still do it. It was pure magic. Smitty found new ways to serve the customer better. There was no can’t in him.”
That’s how Gary Dewell, then vice president of parts and service for Navistar International, described William A “Smitty” Smith, who ran his marketing efforts in the 1980s and early 1990s. Smitty passed away on April 18th, at the age of 61. Those of us who remember him know that the truck parts business lost a visionary.
To understand the impact of Dewell’s recollections, you must know that after Smitty alienated virtually every top executive of Navistar, Dewell was forced to let him go. Without a doubt, Smitty caused Gary more headaches than any man alive, and he finally had no choice but to fire him. However in looking back, he believes he’d do the whole thing again in a heartbeat.
What manner of beast could evoke such strong positive comments from a boss who fired him?
Smitty graduated from Rhodes College in his home town of Memphis, Tenn., then got his MBA from what is now The University of Memphis. He immediately joined Cummins in Columbus, Ind., where by popular legend, he had alienated almost all of his superiors within two years. In those days at Cummins, they didn’t fire MBAs, they sent them to corporate hell, Diesel Recon in Memphis.
Recon was a mess
