Born: June 14, 1940
Died: September 1, 2020
His beloved wife Carol wrote: “Dear sweet Dennis passed away around 5 this morning. He went peacefully.”
Born in Denver, Dennis came to Yale from Lawrenceville. His father, brother, uncle and grandfather preceded him at Yale. In Timothy Dwight, he served as athletic secretary, swam and played soccer. He lettered in wrestling and was a member of Beta Theta Pi and the Transportation Club. After Yale he obtained an MBA from Harvard in 1966. In our 25th reunion book he wrote about his career: “The 25 years since graduation have required a high degree of flexibility as I have changed responsibilities, jobs, and/or residences. I have lived in Connecticut (four places), Boston, New Jersey, Chicago, Oregon, Georgia, New York City, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Washington State.”
He had a fascinating career involved in wood products, including running a sawmill, and finally at ITT-Rayonier “responsible for wood products, forest and pulp operations”.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Carol Snyder, brother Irving G. Snyder Jr, his three children, Katherine, Benjamin, and Matthew, and two step-children Greg and Jeffrey. Dennis was blessed with nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Here’s an excerpt from Larry Prince, his friend from Lawrenceville and Yale: “It’s a relief to hear that his suffering did not continue longer and hope that soon your feeling of loss will be replaced by pleasant memories of this wonderful guy.
“Wonderful he was. He had very high principals and ethics in all his dealings. We often talked about that in NYC. He was exceptionally hard working carrying a heavy load of difficult courses at Yale while doing scholarship work and playing very tiring sports each day. But most important, he was always there for others … doing the right thing. When we talked 10 days ago for the last time, he related a story about being sent from the NY office to a plant down south to close it down and fire 3,000 employees. He was very proud that he did this difficult job, and at the end he knew each of the employees and they departed friends. Dennis was a ‘SOLID GUY’ … and that’s perhaps the best any of us can hope for.
“At Yale he and I started to play squash on weekends when we had no dates (usual) and no money (also, the norm). We kept a record of the matches , and believe it or not , we were tied upon graduation. Fifteen months later, he took me in when I couldn’t find a roommate in NYC. We started playing again, and incredible as it sounds, when he left for Harvard Business School we were once again tied! Finally, at our 50threunion from Lawrenceville, Dennis arranged to get us a squash court. We played three matches. Yes, I won the first, he the second, and at 28-28 in the third match, we had to leave the court. So it all ends in a tie.
“I wish I had spent more time with him in these last years.”
– John H. Stewart