National Wholesale Co. was well-prepared long before its founder’s passing

By Paul Miller

But for Swann, life after Eddie Smith entailed “a lifetime of preparation, focused on our philosophies and how we operate the business,” she says. “I grew up with that since I was 4. My dad was larger than life to me.”

All in the Family
That life has been full of family mixed with business and vice versa. Smith’s wife Sarah, who died 11 years ago, worked alongside her husband for years, as did daughter Lynda. Son Eddie Smith Jr. was also in the picture for a number of years before leaving in the late ’60s to acquire and run Grady-White Boats in nearby Greenville, N.C. He’s continued to practice what his father preached in building up the successful boating manufacturer ever since.