|
A MAN OF RARE VISION:
WILLIAM T. SNYDER (1918-1981)
The editor of The Frederick Post of Frederick, Maryland, commemo-
rated the life and death of our Bill Snyder with an editorial, entitled "A
Man of Rare Vision." It was the most fitting tribute among the many that
appeared in newspapers across the state during the week after his sudden
and untimely death on February 23, 1981. The Society for the History of
the Germans in Maryland gratefully endorses this characterization of a
man without whose dedication much of our work would have been left un-
done. Although his involvement in our society represented only a minute
part of the enormous amount of community work Bill Snyder did, it was
often crucial for its continued existence. The real significance of his con-
tributions began to dawn on us only when he had left us forever. Even
now, almost four years later, officers of the society still have to call from
time to time on his widow, Eleanor L. McKnight Snyder, to find out about
this or that aspect of our program that Bill was working on at the time
of his death. His devotion to our society was complete. Quietly he had be-
gun to analyze the content of all our publications since 1886. Two results
of this labor are presented in this issue of The Report.
William Trammell Snyder, Jr. was first and foremost a Baltimorean. His
roots in the region and in the city were deep. On his father's side they were
planted in colonial times. The Snyders of the Middle Colonies left their
mark in many spheres of the region's development. On his mother's side,
he descended from the Hemmeters, the Schneidereiths and the Wittkugels
who brought with them to America in the 1840's what was most needed
in the new industrial society: skills, education and dedication. He was
born in Baltimore on August 7, 1918, the only child of William Trammell
Snyder and Elsa Katherine Schneidereith. Fate willed it that his child-
hood and early youth were not as rosy as all outward circumstances
seemed to indicate. His mother died and his aunt, Helene Schneidereith,
reared the child who soon contracted an illness that was to lead to pro-
gressive loss of sight. He was enrolled in the Maryland School for the
Blind. After graduation, Snyder went to City College and on to the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania where he obtained his B.A. in 1940. In later years,
Bill Snyder resumed his academic pursuits. He did graduate work at The
Johns Hopkins University and earned a master's degree from the Univer-
sity of Maryland with a thesis on Dr. Charles F. Wiesenthal, medical
pioneer and leader of the colonial German community of Baltimore.
His professional work in journalism and public relations began in his
early college days. He was on the editorial staff of the Hagerstown Morn-
[7]
ing Herald and served as a press contact man for the 1940 Republican Na-
tional Campaign Committee. During his studies at the University of Penn-
sylvania, he had a part-time job at radio station WIP. After his return to
Baltimore he gained experience in public relations firms. In 1947 he started
his own business, William T. Snyder & Associates, which he conducted
until his death. While his firm produced the usual newsletters, annual re-
ports and brochures for clients, it soon developed into a special agency to
which organizations representing the handicapped and chronically ill
turned with confidence. Among others, Bill Snyder's agency represented
the Kidney Foundation. He provided it with its first staff and was instru-
mental in preparing a report that gained state and eventually federal finan-
cial help for victims of chronic kidney disease. From 1957 to 1971 he was
executive director of the Kidney Foundation of Maryland. He will long
be remembered for his decisive part in drafting Maryland's anatomical gift
act, which allows people to will organs for use in transplants.
In 1977 Snyder headed the Maryland delegation to the White House
Conference on Handicapped Individuals. This conference gave the final
push for the introduction of legislation all over the country to enable handi-
capped people to lead normal lives within a society that had never before
paused long enough to introduce such measures. His efforts to remove
barriers to the handicapped as president of the Baltimore Committee to
Eliminate Architectural Barriers and Travel Obstacles to the Handicapped
led to considerable changes on public roadways and buildings. He was also
active in the Commerce and Industry Combined Health Appeal, the Mary-
land Workshop for the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, the
Arthritis Foundation of Maryland and a myriad of other organizations. In
addition, Bill Snyder was frequently called upon to serve as a consultant
to government agencies, particularly the Department of Labor and the
former Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Awards for his ac-
tivities, both professional and civic, include the Freedom Foundation Gold
Medal and the Helen Keller Medal. At the time of his death, he was presi-
dent of the Radio Reading Service, a broadcast service of detailed news
and features for the visually handicapped. It was all part of his desire to
enable others to achieve what he had truly accomplished: to overcome
seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Bill Snyder was an ardent member of Baltimore Bibliophiles. He col-
lected rare works on Maryland and early maps of the region. He and
his wife, Eleanor, were well known at book auctions. The map collection
was a matter of special pride. Several important pieces were acquired dur-
ing their travel here and in Europe. At a memorial address before the
Baltimore Bibliophiles, delivered at Evergreen House, Harold A. Williams
recalled that the last map Bill Snyder had bought was Lord Baltimore's of
1671. The day he died he and Eleanor had taken it to be framed.
Another abiding lifetime interest was the history of Baltimore and Mary-
land. It was this interest that led Bill Snyder to enter graduate studies.
[8]
But even without the academic stamp of approval he would have been an
accomplished historian. A case in point are the carefully researched fifty
articles which appeared from 1942 until 1946 in the magazine Baltimore.
These vignettes of historical landmarks deserve to be plucked from obliv-
ion. Many booklets and frequent articles from his pen appeared over the
years. His last published writings were twenty biographies of American
inventors which appeared in the Creative Profiles series, published by
Schneidereith & Sons.
Given his family background and his interest in Maryland history, it
was not surprising that Bill Snyder joined our society in 1948, soon after
establishing his own firm. From the beginning he had no intention to limit
his participation to an annual lecture and festive dinner. After three years
he was elected to the Executive Committee on which he served during the
most active years of the society. His constructive contributions during the
meetings of the committee are a matter of record. His professional abilities
in public relations served the society in good stead. When the chairman of
the Executive Committee, Professor Harold Jantz, stepped down to assume
soon afterward the presidency of our society, Bill Snyder was unanimously
elected to succeed the distinguished scholar. From 1965 until his death, a
full sixteen years, he presided over the periodic meetings with humor and
determination. At all times he came to the meetings with well prepared
reports. He kept in personal touch with all committee members over the
years. He also served as our valuable liaison to other organizations in
which he was active. Above all, a meeting at which Bill Snyder presided
was free of tensions and the pettiness that characterizes so many smaller
associations. Whenever nobody else came forward to do what had to be
done, Bill would say: "I'll see to it."
[9]
|