Laura Pancoast Smith

Laura Pancoast Smith, 47, of Durham, North Carolina, passed away peacefully on June 1, 2026 after a long battle with cystic fibrosis. She was born on December 20, 1978, in St. Joseph, Michigan to Nicholas and Ruth Smith. She attended the University of Michigan, and then in 2004, she graduated cum laude from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Language, Writing and Rhetoric, and a minor in Environmental Science.

After graduation, she worked as a nanny, but soon became a writer for the North Raleigh News, including a weekly column “What’s Up With That?”. She next worked as a Philanthropy and Communications Liaison for the North Carolina chapter of The Nature Conservancy, where she organized Land & Water Conservation Lobby Day. She also worked as a Communications intern and Operations Associate for the Triangle Land Conservancy, and even after she had to cut back hours to care for her own health, she worked as a cat and dog walker and caregiver.

One of her proudest accomplishments was her role as President and Team Manager for the North Carolina Transplant Athletes from 2016 to 2022, leading the Team to the Transplant Games of America in 2016, 2018, and 2022.

But more important than Laura’s biography is who she was, and how she lived her life. One friend summed it up by saying that Laura “coped deftly with her medical conditions while continuing to do whatever the heck she wanted - traveling all over the world, collecting new friends, working at amazing jobs, and approaching everything with passion and a sense of fun.” She loved animals and the natural world, and she believed in the interconnection of all things. She challenged everyone who knew her to smile more, to appreciate all the little joys in life, to try new things, and to always keep laughing. She made so many hard things look easy, and she always told the people she loved how much she loved them.

Laura will be deeply missed by many, most especially by her mother Ruth Smith, her brother Nathan Smith, her nephew Simon Smith, and her cousins Kristina Naggy, Erik Pancoast, and Anne Duchac.

To honor Laura, please consider making a donation to Donate Life NC, NC Transplant Athletes, or The Nature Conservancy. She also hopes people will plant a tree and consider becoming an organ donor - she was gifted more than 12 years of life from one family’s loss, and gifted infinite others through her presence on this earth for those 12 years.