Tweet

"Mr. Smith exemplifies the caring, generous and forward-thinking individual who represents what we would want as our Yuma County Citizen of the Year," wrote Helen Coffeen in her nomination letter. He's not Victor Smith the actor, though Smith's Yuma agricultural company was once the focus of a Larry King documentary on promoting children's nutrition; and in 2006, Smith appeared on NBC's "Dateline" to defend the nation's leafy-green industry after an illness breakout.

He's not Victor Smith the secretary of commerce for the state of Indiana, though his knowledge of agriculture commerce could be said to rival any expert's.

And he's certainly not Victor Smith the boxer, the real estate agent (though the Victor Smith we are talking about did sell real estate in Denver), or the accountant (though he studied economics and business law at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and then finance at Arizona State University in 1975).

Victor P. Smith, known as "Vic," is an agricultural producer, agri-businessman, local and national board member, philanthropist, chief executive officer, and more. He's not only known for his business acumen, but for his giving to the community.

Smith came to Yuma in the mid-1970s from southern Colorado, where he was born to John B. Smith and Edna Pauline Vinci Pomeleo in 1952. John B. Smith, an attorney, had purchased Sky Valley Ice and Refrigeration in 1971 after representing it in a civil case in the late 1960s, according to a profile of the younger Smith in the January 2015 issue of the Western Grower Shipper, the trade publication for the Western Growers Association. The business, which operated in Colorado and New Mexico, was renamed Skyview Cooling.

Click here to view full article