SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse community is mourning the loss of a woman who left her mark on the city.

Saundra "Sandy" Smokes passed away unexpectedly Wednesday morning. The veteran journalist spent decades at the Syracuse papers. She started working at the Herald Journal in 1977 and became the first woman of color to sit on the Herald Journal’s editorial board in 1985.

Over the course of her career, she served as an editorial writer and copy editor and she had recently started her own radio show.

Smokes was also inducted into the Syracuse Press Club’s Wall of Distinction in 2004.

The Post-Standard says she had battled diabetes for several years and went into cardiac arrest at her home on Monday. She was 57.