Yeah, no one knew who this dude was but...from the article:
In 1961, he moved to Los Angeles and began working with independent distributors but returned to radio shortly before being offered a job as Warner Bros’ national promotion manager and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the company’s president in 1972.
During his tenure, Smith worked with some of rock’s biggest stars including Van Morrison, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, The Doobie Brothers and the Grateful Dead, whose members reportedly tried persuading Smith to drop LSD so he’d “get” their music. He abstained.
Also:
Some of the biggest, most influential pop and rock stars from the early days in vinyl to the CD era — Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and Joni Mitchell, among them — have Joe Smith to thank for shepherding their careers.
He was a great that no one knew about...rip.
We knew his work if not his name.