The smallest of the three breweries based in Tadcaster, it is also an unlimited company which allows it to maintain financial privacy.
Smith introduced many changes when he took control as chairman including turning tenants into managers, directly employed by the brewery.
It enabled the business to dictate the policies it is known for and, as its website states, its pubs are “havens from the digital world”.
Sweeting said: “Mr Smith had his standards, Mr Smith had his reasons and a lot of people understood.
“Mr Smith was also a man of principle and there would have been a reason for regulations in the pubs.
“A lot of people were quite happy for those regulations because we respected him.”
Councillor Kirsty Poskitt, who represents Tadcaster on North Yorkshire Council, said her family had close ties with the brewery and that she had found Smith to be passionate about local history.
“He was very well-known, not just in Tadcaster, but across the country and probably throughout the world. It’s impacted lots of people.
“It’s a sad day. He obviously had quite a lot of influence on the town itself, just in terms of its structure and how it is. His legacy is vast and varied.”
Speaking about the company’s ownership of land and property in the area, she said: “He is a very intrinsic part of why Tadcaster is like it is today. I think everyone’s reflecting on what he has meant to the town.”
Poskitt regularly met with Smith in her role as a councillor and said he was a “kind and fascinating man”.
“He was quite eccentric, but he was a really interesting man. He was passionate about history. I was always grateful for time with him and enjoyed speaking to him.”
Her father and grandfather both worked at the brewery, the latter as a cooper, and Smith remembered them both.
“Throughout Tadcaster there are an awful lot of people that were employed by the brewery and who live in houses that belong to the brewery.
“I’ve been here pretty much my whole life and he was a controversial figure in lots of people’s eyes, and but those that did interact with him and those that did know him would make positive statements about him and would acknowledge that he was an intelligent man with big family and his heart was in the right place.
“He always acted in the best interests of the town. He was incredibly private. For me he is a very big part of Tadcaster’s history and leaves a huge legacy.”
