LINCOLN — Former Nebraska State Sen. Loran Schmit is remembered as a dogged advocate for rural Nebraska and the father of the state’s ethanol industry, as well as a legislative leader who was ahead of his time on other issues, including gambling. It was a passion, he said, that sometimes worked against Schmit, a farmer, lobbyist and businessman. “I don’t think there would be an ethanol industry in this nation without him. “He thought that when little people were wronged, big people were behind it, and that made him some enemies,” said Moore, a former state senator and secretary of state who recently retired as an executive with Union Pacific. Schmit had been in declining health in recent years but continued to lobby for the state’s ethanol industry for years after leaving the Legislature.