The very essence of who we are as an organization at Friends of the Smokies is forever rooted in what we learned from President Emeritus Jim Hart. Jim Hart died Feb. 5, 2026.
Jim was a revered figure in East Tennessee as a longtime leader in the community and the broadcast industry. He developed a love of broadcasting while working as a young man at WBIR-TV in Knoxville, where his father was the station’s first general manager. Jim continued his own prodigious broadcasting career as the general manager of television stations in Winston-Salem and Cincinnati. He returned to his roots at WBIR in the 1980s, where he helped develop its “Straight from the Heart” brand as well as The Heartland Series, a longtime award-winning program that proudly shared the richness of the Smokies and Appalachian culture. He went on to serve as a national broadcast leader as senior vice president of Scripps Howard Broadcasting and vice president for The E.W. Scripps Company until his retirement in 2001.
While Jim retired from broadcasting in 2001, his work was far from complete. He soon took on a new role as executive director of Friends of the Smokies in 2002, growing the nonprofit into the flourishing organization it is today. He was part of creating enduring fundraising events that continue today as cherished celebrations of community, friendship, and a shared love of the national park. Jim helped create endowments that fund the restoration of the park’s most beloved trails and preserve its historic structures. He utilized his connections in the broadcast industry for a long-running telethon to benefit the park that aired in Asheville and Knoxville.
Hart served as a leader and mentor with an unwavering sense of humility, always giving credit to the talented staff and committed volunteers at Friends of the Smokies. He kept the focus on a collective mission to help the national park he loved his entire life. In 2016, Smokies Life Magazine named Jim Hart one of the 100 most influential people in the history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
There is no way for us to adequately express our gratitude for Jim Hart and our sympathies to his wonderful family. Because of Jim, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a better place and we are better people.
PHOTO ALBUM LINK: Photographs of Jim Hart during his Friends of the Smokies career
