
William Russell Snyder
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William Russell Snyder was born March 11, 1926 on a large farm in Laytonsville, MD. Farming was his parents' occupation, and he was the only son in a family which includes five sisters. He graduated from Frederick High School and joined the army as part of the World War II effort. During World War II William served at Scott Field, Illinois, which was the site of the Army Air Forces Training Command. At the time it was one of the most complex airports in the country and trained students in the mechanics of radio operation. He was honorably discharged. He met his wife, Ann Lewis, while she was attending Hood College. A college roommate set them up on a blind date and they married in 1949. He graduated from University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1951. He was hired by Crown Central Petroleum Corporation in 1951 and for 42 years served in various executive positions within the company. He was at Crown from 1951 until 1993, and through a strong work ethic and enjoyment of challenges, he rose to become Senior Vice President of Administration and Secretary. During his years at Crown he served in various positions, responsible for purchasing, human resources, corporate insurance, labor relations, corporate security, and corporate secretary functions. His government and public relations expertise included extensive work on Federal and State laws and regulations relating to pro-business issues. He coordinated lobbying efforts at the Federal level in cooperation with the National Petroleum Refiners Association and a coalition of independent refiners and handled labor negotiations, including pension and other benefits for more than ten years. Both his Faith and family were very important to him. He attended Towson United Methodist Church his entire life. William was a devoted Father of Kathryn E. Snyder and Elaine M. Snyder. Family dinners were very important and always eaten together. Every Sunday "Bill" and Ann, with his girls of course, drove out Route 40 to have dinner with his parents in Frederick. Throughout his life he did many things to help family members when they were in difficult circumstances and developed many professional and community affiliations. He was passionate about higher education. His goal was to help people achieve their dreams. Some of his community involvements were serving on the Board of Trustees of Hood College from 1983 to 1985 and again from 1991 to 1997 and was granted emeritus status. Bill's two sisters, Dottie and Hattie, were proud Hood alumnae. Bill never lost his passion for Hood. He regularly attended college events in the Baltimore area, and it was not unusual to see him on campus. Lindy Small, a Hood alum and Trustee Emerita from Baltimore said, "Bill was a role model in civic engagement and mentor for so many of us in the Baltimore business community." Bill worked with five of Hood's eleven presidents. Hood will miss his smile, his charm, his wit and his love for life and we are grateful that he shared his talents with so many of the Hood community. He also served as Member and Chair of the Maryland State Board of Higher Education, Trustee and Chair of the Independent College Fund of Maryland. He was a former member of the Chancellor's Advisory Council, the University System of Maryland, and Ex Officio Member of the University of Maryland Foundation. He was passionate about serving as a director for 20 years at KCI Technologies, Hunt Valley, MD, and a former member of the Board of Governors, Baltimore Goodwill Industries, Inc. In 1982 he achieved the distinguished Alumnus Award, College of Business and Management. He was a long-time member of Towson Toastmasters. He was a voracious reader of all kinds of topics, an avid golfer and he enjoyed traveling with his wife Ann. He is the dear brother of Hattie Bingham and Louise Phillips and a brother-in-law to Dr. Gene Bingham, and cousin-in-law to Betsy Bryant. He is preceded in death by his daughter Elaine M. Snyder and a son Charles Snyder who died as an infant. His sisters who passed away were Peggy Snyder, Dottie Lambdin, and Lucille Beard. He is also preceded by a dear cousin Allen Bryant. He was a very social person who loved getting to know people from all different backgrounds and he loved dancing. He took dancing lessons with Ann in the basement of their first house and was taking dance lessons bi-weekly in his 80's. In 2016 he moved to the Edenwald Continuing Care Community. He loved living at Edenwald and making new friends. He had a charming and charismatic personality and a great sense of humor. He also has many loving nieces and nephews. William died on October 15, 2020, surrounded by love. Friends called for visitation at the Ruck Towson Funeral Home on Thursday, October 29. The service to celebrate the Life and Resurrection of William was led by Rev. Dr. Mark Johnson at 1 pm on Friday, October 30 at the Towson United Methodist Church. Interment was at the Laytonsville Cemetery by family members. If desired, contributons may be made to Doctors Without Borders, P.O. Box 5022, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5022 (doctorswithoutborders.org). Please visit the guestbook at ruckfuneralhomes.com to leave a kind word or memory of William.
