The smallest of the three breweries based in Tadcaster, it is also an unlimited company which allows it to maintain financial confidentiality.
When Smith took control as president he made several changes including turning tenants into managers directly employed by the brewery.
This has enabled the business to dictate the policies for which it is known and, as its website states, its pubs are a “paradise from the digital world”.
Sweeting said: “Mr Smith had his standards, Mr Smith had his reasons and a lot of people understood that.
“Mr Smith was also a man of principle and there must have been a reason for the rules in the pub.
“A lot of people were quite happy with those rules because we respected them.”
Councilor Kirsty Poskitt, who represents Tadcaster on North Yorkshire Council, said that her family had close ties to the brewery and that she had found Smith passionate about local history.
“He was very well known, not only in Tadcaster, but all over the country and probably the whole world. It had an impact on a lot of people.
“It’s a sad day. Obviously he had a huge impact on the city, in terms of its structure and its condition. His legacy is vast and varied.”
Speaking about the company’s ownership of land and property in the area, he said: “He is a very intrinsic part of what Tadcaster is like today. I think everyone is reflecting on what he means to the town.”
Poskitt met Smith regularly during her role as a councilor and said he was a “kind and charming man”.
“He was quite eccentric, but he was a really interesting person. He was a history buff. I was always grateful to spend time with him and enjoyed talking to him.”
Both his father and grandfather worked at the brewery, with the grandfather working as a cooper and Smith remembers them both.
“There are a lot of people all over Tadcaster who were employed in the breweries and who live in brewery houses.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and he was a controversial figure in the eyes of many people, and but people who interacted with him and people who knew him had positive statements about him and acknowledged that he was an intelligent man with a large family and his heart was in the right place.
“He always acted in the best interests of the town. He was incredibly personal. To me he is a huge part of Tadcaster’s history and leaves a huge legacy.”
