The Winston-Salem Journal has been publishing a five-part series this week on the tragic 1932 death of Zachary Smith Reynolds, the youngest son of tobacco tycoon R.J. Reynolds (pictured right, portrait by Joseph King).

The series started Sunday and continued through today and the story is absolutely thrilling. I read it with interest everyday.

Not only did the Journal’s series focus on the history of the death (this year marks the 75th anniversary of it) and the mystery surrounding who did it (Z. Smith Reynolds’ wife, Libby Holman, and his boyhood friend Ab Walker were charged with murder but never prosecuted), the series also delved into some interesting notes on Winston-Salem history.

The lasting legacy of Z. Smith Reynolds, although he died quite young – at 20 years old – remains with the City of Winston-Salem. Our airport is named after him, a library at Wake Forest University is named after him, and a charitable foundation which has served North Carolina for more than 70 years is named after him (and originally formed from his estate).

You can catch the series at The Winston-Salem Journal’s website.

Anyone from North Carolina, and especially anyone from Winston-Salem, knows exactly how much the Reynolds Family has left its eternal mark on the community. The Reynolds Family contributed to and built up almost every aspect of Winston-Salem society, including contributing to Baptist Hospital (now the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center), the creation of a high school (my alma mater, R.J. Reynolds High School), the move of Wake Forest University from Wake Forest, NC, the creation of a hospital for African-Americans (prior to integration in the South) and so on and so on.

* A note on the portrait: The portrait was painted by the late Joseph King, an R.J. Reynolds alumnus who also had the honor of painting portraits for R.J. Reynolds, his wife Katharine Smith Reynolds and Queen Elizabeth II. King’s wife, also an alumna of R.J. Reynolds High School, is a major part of the Friends of the R.J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium. She played a large hand in helping to renovate and restore the Auditorium 2000-2002. Mrs. King is an artist and sculptor. One of her sculptures is a statue of Bowman Grey, the chief patron of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Bowman Grey School of Medicine. The Grey Family and the Reynolds Family were quite close. The Greylynn Estate sits right next to the Reynolds Family estate, now the Reynolda House Museum of American Art (owned & operated by Wake Forest University).