D. Ray Smith

D. Ray Smith served on the committee to establish the themes for the new park and on the National Park Service’s Scholars Forum Roundtable, and testified before a U.S. House subcommittee. Ray has spent both his professional and personal life preserving the region’s history, especially that of Oak Ridge and Y-12. He is the official City of Oak Ridge Historian, a popular newspaper columnist and author, film producer, and the recipient of numerous local and national recognitions. At his 2017 retirement from Y-12, Ray was awarded the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Distinguished Service Gold Award and was recognized by the East Tennessee Historical Society with an Award of Excellence for Lifetime Achievement in History.