On February 15, 2002, the Xenaverse lost one of its brightest stars. Kevin Smith passed away in his sleep after fighting for life for several days. He had sustained head injuries from a fall while in China. I remember seeing him on stage at one of the Creation Xena conventions, and he was funny, warm, charismatic, and genuine. Seemed like the kind of guy who'd give you the shirt off his back if you were in trouble, and you could tell he loved his sons to death, the way he glowed when he talked about them.

I had the great fortune to be at the Herc/Xena convention in Pasadena when I heard the news. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many fellow Xenites, and the support and love in the place was amazing. On Saturday night, an impromptu memorial service was held. Many of the actors there for the weekend came out on stage to say a few words about Kevin, and Lucy was teleconferenced in from New Zealand. There wasn't a dry eye in the house by the end of it, when we all rose to our feet and gave Kevin a standing ovation.

02/18/02 -- Both Creation Entertainment and Sword and Staff will be accepting donations to help out the family. The "Kevin Smith Fund", being organized by Lucy Lawless, Michael Hurst, and Robert Bruce (Kevin's agent) should be up and official very soon. See below for more information on how you can help and contribute.

DONATION INFORMATION NEWS ITEMS MEMORIALS/TRIBUTES
DONATION INFORMATION
Official KS Memorial Fund Info

Updated 6/4/04 - new donation address and web site URL

You can send donations for the Kevin Smith Trust Fund to

Kevin Smith Trust Fund
c/o Auckland Festival Office
P.O. Box 68533
Newton
Auckland 1
New Zealand

Or, you can donate online at http://www.kevinsmithtrust.com .

The form is charging in NZ funds. You can use the web page here to find exchange rates. Some examples:
$5 US = $12 NZ
$10 US = $23 NZ
$25 US = $57 NZ
$50 US = $115 NZ

So, if you wanted to use your credit card and donate $25 US, you would type $57 in the amount section on the form.

(2/21/02) - A Message from Robert Bruce

Notice to all concerned.

Regarding the recent tragic death of New Zealand Actor Kevin Smith.

Robert Bruce, Lucy Lawless and Michael Hurst with appropriate legal representation will be establishing the Official Kevin Smith Foundation/Fund.

This foundation/fund, and its website, is the one and only organization working with Kevin Smith's family.

Please consider other people, organizations or web sites, while well intentioned (or otherwise), as not official. We would request any contributions be withheld until the foundation/fund and its website are established as a legal entity.

Further details of the final name and structure of this foundation/fund will be released over the next few weeks.

We appreciate peoples desire to contribute in Kevin's memory, but we ask your patience in this difficult time. Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

Regards,

Robert Bruce
Theatrical Agent

(2/18/02)

The following is from Lori Joyce, and hope it will answer any questions people may have about the trust fund being set up for Kevin Smith's family by Lucy Lawless, Michael Hurst and Robert Bruce. Sword and Staff will continue to take donations for that fund. Information on all donations, including the name and address of the donor, will be forwarded to New Zealand once the Trust Fund is set up.

If you do have questions, please contact me at MistNY@aol.com and I will be happy to answer them.

Mist
http://sword-and-staff.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi,

Kevin's agent, Robert, just confirmed that the official trust fun will be set up shortly in New Zealand, coordinated by Robert, Lucy Lawless and Michael Hurst.

He will be providing me with information regarding address, the name of the fund, etc. in the coming week(s).

You may still donate to Sword And Staff as per the previous post here by Mist. She will pass all contributions on the the official fund once it's established.

Thanks to all who support Sue, Tyrone, Oscar and Willard through these very trying times. Thanks to all who have already contributed messages to Kevin's family. What a wonderful outpouring of love for someone who touched us all.

Cheers,
Lori
NEWS ITEMS
  • 3/9/02 : MESSAGE FROM LUCY REGARDING THE KEVIN SMITH TRUST FUND

    This message was originally posted to the Xena Fan Club page by Sharon at Creation.

    "I've been wanting to thank all those nice people who care about Kevin and gave money at the convention. I wanted to say that I'm sorry that a place for their money to go wasn't arranged sooner. It was simply that the people who were arranging it were so close to Kevin and needed time to support his wife and family. I want the fans to know they weren't being ignored. I don't want them to feel disrespected. Tell them I'm sorry I haven't sent word. Every day I say I've got to write a letter and I'm just out of words. I know that his wife and children will take a great deal of heart of how much Kevin meant to people out there that they don't even know. It's going to help them through this tough time. Please thank everyone so much for me."

    -- Lucy Lawless

    The Kevin Smith Trust Fund has now been set up at the Auckland Theatre Company to help Kevin's family. Donations can be sent to:

    Kevin Smith Trust Fund
    c/o Auckland Theatre Company
    P.O. Box 6513
    Wellesley Street
    Auckland
    New Zealand

  • 3/1/02 : "Emotional farewell for Kevin Smith" - NZoom.com
    (Some 1,400 friends and fans turned out to Auckland's Aotea Centre to farewell actor Kevin Smith, who died two weeks ago in China...)
    This article has a link to a video clip from the memorial service

  • 3/1/02 : "Friends and fans celebrate life of Kevin Smith" - New Zealand Herald
    (Kevin Smith's life was celebrated yesterday by the acting community and more than 1000 mourners in Auckland's Aotea Centre...)

  • 2/23/02 : "Showbiz friends invite fans to Smith's farewell" - New Zealand Herald
    (Auckland's acting community is planning a special farewell for colleague Kevin Smith, who died in China last week...)

  • 2/23/02 : "Farewell to a friend" - New Zealand Herald
    (Actor/director MICHAEL HURST remembers a colleague and a chum...)

  • 2/23/02 : "Auckland memorial service planned for Smith" - Stuff.co.nz
    (Details are still being decided, but Smith's friend, actor-director Michael Hurst, said fans would be welcome at the memorial at the Aotea Centre on Thursday...)

  • 2/23/02 : "Private funeral for Kevin Smith" - Stuff.co.nz
    (However, a public memorial service, possibly in Auckland's Aotea Centre, would be held later, Smith's agent Robert Bruce said today...)

  • 2/20/02 : "Memorial Fund For Actor's Family" - XTRAMSN (New Zealand News)
    (There is a .rm clip on this site of Kevin's agent, Robert Bruce, talking about the fund.)

  • 2/19/02 : "Details emerging about actor's death" - NZoom.com

  • 2/19/02 : "Wall of silence frustrates Kevin Smith fans" - New Zealand Herald
    (Shocked fans of actor Kevin Smith are clamouring to learn more about his fatal fall, but his family are keeping the details firmly under wraps...)

  • 2/18/02 : NZoom site clip of Lucy on the Holmes TV show paying tribute to Kevin
    (a transcript of this is available on MaryD's Ausxip site)

  • 2/18/02 : "Fans and colleagues mourn Smith" - New Zealand Herald

  • 2/18/02 : from Sharon Delaney at Creation

    As many of you have already heard the terribly sad news, our beloved Ares, actor Kevin Smith has passed away due to injuries suffered in a fall in China.

    This news reached all of us attending the annual Official Xena Convention in Pasadena where most of the Xena cast along with fans from around the world were gathered.

    The fact that so many of us were together was incredibly comforting and we want to thank all of our guests for their performances and remembrances.

    The amazing and continuing generousity of fandom was evident as an effort to help Kevin's family was begun.

    We have created a tribute page to Kevin on our website which will contain information shortly on a fund which will be established. Please visit our home page and click on the Kevin Smith Tribute link.

    Our thoughts are with Kevin's family and friends in New Zealand as well as all the many fans Kevin made throughout the world.

    Creation Entertainment
    http://www.creationent.com/

  • 2/17/02 : NZoom site clip of the TV1 report on Kevin's death, including a clip of Michael Hurst being interviewed after the memorial service at the Creation convention

  • 2/17/02 : from Sharon Delaney at Creation

    Our thoughts are with Kevin Smith's family.

    2/17/02 -- I talked with Michael Hurst and Lucy today. They are ever so grateful for the fan support of Kevin's family. Lucy said she and Michael want to make sure there is a proper mechanism in place to help Sue, Kevin's wife, deal legally with the monetary donations coming from the fans. For Robert Bruce, Kevin's agent, this was the loss of a man as close as a brother. Robert and Michael will be seeing a solicitor this week to set up a fund for the family. They will let us know the name and address so anyone who wishes can contribute to the family which very much needs our help. They want to make sure any money sent to Sue is not going to be taxed. Lucy also told me that Smith is not Kevin's legal last name, so his wife is not Sue Smith. Lucy sends her deepest thanks and love to everyone for their support. As Michael said on stage, he was grateful to be among the fans at the convention because he was so far away from his own family. The outpouring of love meant a great deal to him. Lucy was on the phone Saturday night when when all the actors were on stage and Michael asked everyone to stand and applaud in tribute to Kevin. Lucy and Rob stood up in their living room, applauding, and joined with all of us.

  • 2/16/02 : "Actor Kevin Smith dies after fall in China" - New Zealand Herald
MEMORIALS/TRIBUTES