FORT SMITH -- Ray Gosack, who served as city administrator for 4½ years before retiring in August 2015, died Friday morning after a brief illness from cancer, Mayor Sandy Sanders said.
Gosack, 58, served 20 years with Fort Smith as deputy administrator starting in 1999 and, before that, as administrative assistant in utilities and as acting special projects coordinator in the mid-1980s before leaving for 10 years to take a city management job in Illinois.
"Ray Gosack was a man for whom I have great respect," Sanders said Friday. "He was an outstanding public servant and friend."
He said Gosack's decisions as administrator were for the best for Fort Smith.
Many people posted messages of condolences and memories of Gosack on his Facebook page Friday.
Sanders said Gosack's funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Grace Community Church at 4001 Brooken Hill Drive in Fort Smith. Obituary information was pending Friday at Edwards Funeral Home in Fort Smith.
Gosack was a native of Greenwood and attended Greenwood High School and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
A biography released by the city listed Fort Smith accomplishments under his leadership as adoption of the city's first comprehensive plan, development of the Lake Fort Smith water supply, city landfill expansion, downtown revitalization, redevelopment of former Fort Chaffee land, construction of six major roadway expansion projects to alleviate congestion, expanded city parks and he kept city government financially solvent through economically tumultuous times.
State Desk on 10/22/2016