NEW YORK — Barbara “B.” Smith, one of the nation's top black models who went on to open restaurants, launch a successful home products line and write cookbooks, has died at her Long Island home at age 70. Smith had been battling early onset Alzheimer's disease.
Smith's family announced on social media that she died Saturday evening. Smith's eponymous Manhattan restaurant, one of several, opened in 1986 and attracted a following among affluent black New Yorkers. She wrote three cookbooks, founded three successful restaurants and launched a nationally syndicated television show, a magazine and home products line.
