Billy Ray Smith

Billy Ray Smith was a Kentucky farmer, businessman and politician who served two terms as the state's Commissioner of Agriculture and spent fourteen years representing Warren and Simpson counties in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He died on October 10, 2026, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the age of 82.

Smith was born William Ray Smith on April 5, 1944, in Bowling Green, the son of Leslie Eugene and Evelyn Stahl Smith. He grew up as a fourth generation farmer and cattle breeder in Warren County and carried that background into both his business career and his public service. After earning an agriculture degree from Western Kentucky University in 1965, he spent nearly three decades managing Pan American Mills, a grain elevator and livestock feed manufacturing company in Bowling Green.

Smith entered elected office in 1981, winning a seat representing the 21st district in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he served from 1982 to 1995. In 1995 he was elected Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture and took office in January 1996. He was reelected in 1999, making him, according to his obituary, the first person in Kentucky history to be elected to two consecutive terms in that office. As commissioner he established the Kentucky Farm and Home Safety Program, which has been credited with reducing farm related deaths in the state, and he later served as president of both the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. After leaving office in 2004 because of term limits, he went on to serve as executive director of the Kentucky FFA Foundation from 2005 to 2013.

Over his career Smith was recognized with honors including induction into the Western Kentucky University Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2001, the Progressive Farmer Man of the Year award, and the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives' Distinguished Rural Kentuckian honor in 2013. Colleagues and successors remembered him as a consensus builder who worked across party lines on behalf of Kentucky's farmers and rural communities throughout twenty two years in public service.

Smith died on October 10, 2026, in Bowling Green following a brief battle with cancer, according to his family's obituary. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and current Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell were among those who publicly paid tribute to him in the days after his death. He is survived by his wife, Jane McLellan Thomas Smith, four children, sixteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Visitation and a funeral service are planned for Friday, October 16, 2026, at First Baptist Church in Bowling Green.