Richard Elliot Snyder (April 6, 1933 – June 6, 2023) was an American publishing executive best known for his tenures at

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

Yardley, Jonathan (June 20, 1994). A Publishing Tycoon's Lasting Imprint. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

.Tabor, Mary W. (February 1, 1996)
Western Publishing Gives Snyder an Equity Stake.
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Biography

Richard Elliot Snyder was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on April 6, 1933. He graduated from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

in 1955 and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, receiving an honorable discharge in 1956. He began as a trainee at Doubleday & Co., rising to assistant marketing director in 1958. Snyder began working at Simon & Schuster in 1960, serving as President from 1975 to 1986, CEO from 1978 to 1994, and Chairman from 1986 to 1994. From 1975 to 1994, Simon & Schuster went from US$40 million to US$2 billion in annual revenue and became the largest book publisher in the world, home to notable authors including

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs ...

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

, Larry McMurtry, Mary Higgins Clark,

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (; March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophical ...

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. Didio ...

, Joseph Heller, Ian McEwen,

Mario Puzo Mario Francis Puzo (; ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author and screenwriter. He wrote crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' (1969), which h ...

, Stephen Ambrose,

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler' ...

Walter Isaacson Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American journalist who has written biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna and Elon Musk. As of 2024, Isaacson is a profes ...

, and

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United S ...

.Tabor, Mary W. (September 11, 1995). An Ousted Publishing Executive Is Back in Action. ''

'' The trade division won nine

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in a row during his tenure. After being abruptly dismissed by Viacom president Frank Biondi Jr. in 1994, Snyder formed an investment group to acquire control of

, publishers of the

Golden Books *Western Publishing (1907−2001) — , magazines, and {{C, Children's book publishers, children's books publisher, formerly based in Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is ...

series of children's books. That deal was completed in 1996, and the company was renamed Golden Books Family Entertainment. By 1998, shares of Golden Books lost 98 percent of their value. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in early 1999, emerged in January 2000 and entered bankruptcy once again in 2001.Kirkpatrick, David D. (August 16, 2001). 2 Companies Pay $84 Million for Golden Books. ''

'' The company was purchased by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

and Classic Media following the 2001 bankruptcy. The Richard E. Snyder President's Lecture Series at Tufts was endowed by him in 2004. Snyder was a Trustee of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. In 2007, Snyder sued

Edgar Bronfman Jr. Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. (born May 16, 1955) is an American businessman, filmmaker, theater producer, and media executive who is a managing partner at Accretive LLC. He previously was CEO of Warner Music Group from 2004 to 2011, and was its chair ...

over an alleged oral joint venture between the two involving the acquisition of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

.Leeds, Jeff (April 24, 2007)
Warner Music Chairman Sued.
''

'' Judge Bernard J. Fried of the New York State Supreme Court dismissed 4 of the 6 charges in 2008, allowing the rest to go forward.Friedman, Roger (April 28, 2008)
'Iron Man' Rocks: First Review.
''

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

'' At the request of

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

, Snyder was a major component in the resurrection of

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

, an international literary organization. He also cofounded and chaired the

National Book Awards The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

and ran them for over 10 years. Snyder was also a member of the

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

and the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercial ...

. The Richard E. Snyder President's Lecture Series at

was endowed by him in 2004 to invigorate the intellectual environment on campus by providing a forum for the presentation of provocative points of view on matters of global importance. Notable speakers have included

and

Niall Ferguson Sir Niall Campbell Ferguson, ( ; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

. Snyder was a Trustee of

New York-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospit ...

and a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

Personal life and death

Snyder had four children. His high-profile divorce from second wife Joni Evans made headlines in 1990.Span, Paula (April 27, 1990). Divorce of the Publishing Titans; New York's Evans v. Snyder, The Battle of the Helpmates. ''

'' Snyder died of heart failure at his Los Angeles home on June 6, 2023. He was 90.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Richard E. 1933 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American memoirists American book publishers (people) Businesspeople from Brooklyn Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States Military personnel from New York City Tufts University alumni United States Army soldiers