The Observer, January 2008

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Former member of board passes away

Leslie Smith, a Kodiak resident who served on the citizens’ council board in its early days, passed away in October 23 in Boise, Idaho, at 53.

Smith grew up in Massachusetts, and came to Alaska for a graduate program in wildlife biology. In 1982, she went to work on a seiner in Kodiak. She bought her first boat, the Kikituk, in 1985.

She became an activist after the Exxon Valdez spill, helping organize the Kodiak Seiners Association to negotiate for fishermen to assist in the cleanup and representing the city of Kodiak on the council board from March 1990 through May of 1991. She also worked with Alyeska Pipeline to enlist fishing-boat owners to be trained to use spill equipment.

In 2005, Smith was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest or abdominal cavity. She carried on life as normally as possible despite her illness, according to Phil Lansing, her life partner.