Warren Allen Smith, author of Whos Who in Hell, has died
BARRY DUKE, EDITOR
TUE 10 JAN 2017
I was sad to learn today that Warren Allen Smith, a veteran US gay rights activist best known for his creation of a 1,237-page tome, Who’s Who in Hell: A Handbook and International Directory for Humanists, Freethinkers, Naturalists, Rationalists and Non-Theists, died peacefully at the age of 95.
I have been in regular touch with Smith for around five years, discussing possible subjects he might want to write for The Pink Humanist, which I edit on behalf of the the UK gay charity, the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT). During our frequent email exchanges, Smith – who participated in the Stonewall riots in 1969 – animatedly kept me abreast of his many activities in New York and remained remarkably active even after moving recently into an assisted living facility.
Among the many tributes flowing in since news of his death broke yesterday was one from George Broadhead, a Warwickshire colleague of mine, who told me:
I never met Warren but communicated with him regularly when I was secretary of the UK Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA). For many years he contributed a regular ‘Stateside Gossip’ and ‘Gossip from Across the Pond’ column to Gay & Lesbian Humanist. This magazine was published by the Pink Triangle Trust and issued free to GALHA members. The PTT was founded in 1992 and is still going strong, as is its magazine. I am proud to have been included in Warren’s Who’s Who in Hell.
In an interview 16 years ago, Smith, who started the Variety Recording Studio, a major independent company in New York City in 1961 with his business partner and longtime lover Fernando Rodolfo de Jesus Vargas Zamora who died in 1989 – said he spent decades researching people who, like himself, either don’t believe in God, question God’s existence, or, at very least, are sceptical of all organised religions.
http://freethinker.co.uk/2017/01/10/warren-allen-smith-author-of-whos-who-in-hell-has-died/
http://philosopedia.org/index.php?title=Who%27s_Who_in_Hell
