Retired GM CEO 'Roger & Me' Smith dies at 82

DETROIT -- Roger Smith, who led General Motors Corp. in the 1980s and was the subject of Michael Moore's searing documentary "Roger and Me," has died, the automaker said Friday. He was 82.

Smith died Thursday in the Detroit area after an unspecified brief illness, GM said.

He was appointed chairman and chief executive Jan. 1, 1981, and led the world's largest automaker until his retirement on July 31, 1990.

During Smith's tenure as chief executive, GM introduced its first front-wheel-drive midsize cars, formed a joint venture with Toyota to manufacture cars in California, created the Saturn brand and acquired Electronic Data Systems and Hughes Aircraft.

"Roger Smith led GM during a period of tremendous innovation in the industry," current GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said Friday. "He was a leader who knew that we have to accept change, understand change, and learn to make it work for us."

"Roger was truly a pioneer in the fast-moving global industry that we now take for granted," Wagoner said.

Smith also served GM as an executive vice president and a member of the board of directors beginning in 1974.

Moore has become an Oscar-winning documentary maker, but he became famous with "Roger & Me," which explored how GM's plant closings and layoffs affected his hometown of Flint.

The 1989 film chronicles Moore's fruitless attempts to interview Smith about the devastation in Flint, although magazine articles and documentaries have alleged that Smith granted interviews to Moore before the film's release.

Moore has acknowledged a five-minute interview with Smith about a company tax abatement at a 1987 shareholders' meeting, but said that was before he started working on "Roger & Me."

Smith often faced questions about the documentary, which contained interviews of people who said they lost their homes after GM plant closures in Flint.

One woman said she had to start killing rabbits for food after GM shut down the plants, eliminating 30,000 jobs in the city of 150,000.