WIFE, NOT GM BOARD, GOT ROGER SMITH TO QUIT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 29, 1993                   TAG: 9301290207
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG GARDNER KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
WIFE, NOT GM BOARD, GOT ROGER SMITH TO QUIT
Pressure from his wife rather than from his fellow directors persuaded Roger Smith to resign from General Motors Corp.'s board of directors effective April 6, the automaker's former chairman and CEO said this week.
Smith also expects to resign as board member of Bedford's Rubatex Corp., a maker of rubber-sponge products.
"I'm going to shift into a lower gear. I've spent too many nights in hotels and not enough nights at home," he said.
The 67-year-old Smith plans to sever ties with a variety of civic and charitable groups. He has been chairman of Rubatex since 1990 through his service as a director of AEA Investors, a group of retired executives who own Rubatex and other companies.
Robert Milk, president of Rubatex, said Thursday he had not heard of Smith's plan to retire. The Rubatex board, "a rather informal group," meets about quarterly, Milk said.
Smith may be leaving on his own terms, but his resignation from General Motors caps a breathtaking consolidation of power by the board's non-employee directors under the leadership of Chairman John Smale.
Smale's boardroom coup climaxed in October with the resignation of Smith's successor, Robert Stempel, and the promotion of John F. Smith Jr. to president and chief executive officer.
The board's assertive new attitude came after GM's North American automotive business lost more than $12 billion since 1990. Insiders say GM's directors had no intention of renominating Smith for another term when his seat came up for re-election at the annual meeting of the company's shareholders May 21.
Smith insisted that no one on the board asked him to step down.
"It never got to that point," he said. "But don't you think it's time? I'm going to turn 68 in July. Besides, the company's starting to make some real progress."
Smith will remain on the boards of Citicorp, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, International Paper and the Sloan Foundation.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB