Smith-Cox Was WNAV News Director, Cancer Advocate

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Barbara Smith-Cox, news director at WNAV-AM in Annapolis and an advocate for African-American breast cancer survivors like herself, has died.

The station says the 55-year-old, known on air as Barbara Cox, died Friday morning at her Arnold home. The station reports her family attributed her death to natural causes.

Smith-Cox completed the Across the Bay 10K race Sunday and hosted a forum Thursday on cancer survival.

Smith-Cox started working part-time at the station after moving to the area from Florida. Soon, she was on the air full-time, and she became news director three years ago.

Station manager Steve Hopp told The Capital that Smith-Cox "made a big impact with the community" and went "everywhere humanly possible" to gather news.