Ken Smikle, longtime Chicago journalist, remembered

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Family and friends gathered Saturday at First United Methodist Church for the funeral of Ken Smikle, a longtime Chicago journalist.

Smikle, the former publisher of Target Market News, died earlier this month while waiting for a heart transplant. He was 66.

"He was a wealth of knowledge," said Art "Chat Daddy" Simms, of WVON. "Anything that you wanted to know about journalism, marketing, anything that spoke to us as a people, Ken was always right there and knew what direction to lead us in. It's such a tremendous loss, not only for our community but the entire city and country as a whole."

Smikle was married to former Chicago TV journalist Renee Ferguson.