Robert T. Snyder Of Sag Harbor Dies December 10 - 27 East

Robert T. Snyder Of Sag Harbor Dies December 10

icon 1 Photo
Eastport South Manor Assistant Superintendent For Business Rich Snyder.

Eastport South Manor Assistant Superintendent For Business Rich Snyder.

author on Dec 22, 2014

Robert T. Snyder, known as Bob, died in his sleep on December 10 at his Sag Harbor home after returning from a rehearsal with the Sag Harbor Community Band for its annual holiday concert. He was 84.

Mr. Snyder also lived in New York City and spent every January in Sanibel, Florida. Born in the Bronx on April 7, 1930, he grew up in Long Beach, where he worked as a lifeguard when he was a teenager. A Columbia College and Columbia Law School graduate, he continued his support of Columbia as president of his Columbia College alumni class. He worked as a labor lawyer and served 19 years as a judge with the National Labor Relations Board. In recent years he worked as an arbitrator.

An avid sportsman, starting with his award as Best All Around Athlete in summer camp, Mr. Snyder continued to play tennis throughout his life and closely followed the Columbia football, basketball and baseball teams. Beginning with playing jazz as a teenager and then at Columbia College as manager of the marching band, he turned to classical music as an adult and participated in chamber music groups in Sag Harbor, Manhattan and Sanibel. He also played clarinet for many years in the Sag Harbor Community Band.

Sag Harbor had been his second home since 1970. He was a contributor to the book “Voices of Sag Harbor,” a collection of oral histories about the village.

Survivors said he was passionate about his music, as well as the law, fairly considered and executed, as an essential component of our democracy.

Mr. Snyder is survived by his wife, Elaine Congress; a son, Adam Snyder; a daughter-in-law, Cece Cutler; a grandson, Jack Snyder; a cousin, Joan Snyder; and Adam Snyder’s mother, Patricia Stegman. A service was held on Sunday, December 14, at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, March 28, at 2 p.m. at the Princeton/Columbia Club, 15 West 43rd Street in New York City. For more details, email congress@fordham.edu.

Memorial donations may be made to Amnesty International, www.amnestyusa.org; Doctors without Borders, www.doctorswithoutborders.org; Channel 13 (PBS), www.thirteen.org; or American Friends Service Committee, www.afsc.org.

You May Also Like:

Let's Hear

Donald Trump has been back as president for a couple of weeks, and he has issued countless executive orders. He also has proposed making Canada our 51st state, buying Greenland, taking the Panama Canal from Panama, and the taking of Gaza (making it “the Riviera of The Middle East”) and moving the resident Palestinians elsewhere. Yet he has not issued any executive orders nor anything at all to bring down the price of groceries. While campaigning, Trump repeatedly said he would bring food prices down … and fast. Clearly, it was just empty promises. His tariffs will raise prices further. ... 10 Feb 2025 by Staff Writer

Not Bullied

Laurie Anderson’s statement that “I have never met John Leonard” [“A Bully,” Letters, February 6] was about all she got right. I lived through every moment of John Leonard’s three years on the board of the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center — he’s my husband — and it was ugly. Nobody pushed Virginia Frati out. She wanted to retire as of November 1, 2022. John singlehandedly found a highly qualified candidate. Frati was installed on the center’s board of directors on October 25, 2022. Her last day as executive director was October 31, 2022. Frati became livid when an audit ... by Staff Writer

Looming Disaster

During his two confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s uninformed nominee to become the secretary of health and human services, struggled to answer basic questions relating to the job he was nominated to fill. Forcing myself to watch his display of ignorance and shallowness across a range of important health care issues, the fear of looming disaster mounted with every Kennedy utterance. No secretary of health and human services nominee could possibly know everything there is to know about the job — but is it too much to expect a grasp beyond the rudimentary, a bar Kennedy struggled ... by Staff Writer

Cancer in Their Bones

Andrew Hull, the late senior health physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, told me almost 50 years ago, when I was reporting about high levels of radioactivity in the Peconic River, that the cause was fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests at the federal government’s Nevada test site. Many nuclear weapons were exploded, and the fallout spread widely, carried by winds, including to the east of the United States and Suffolk County. I was exploring the situation because the York State Health Department had just issued a report saying that the Peconic River, which flows through Riverhead, had the second-highest level ... by Karl Grossman

VIEWPOINT A Step Forward for Southampton Town

Last week, the Town of Southampton set up half a dozen garbage bins at the Hampton Bays Transfer Station so that residents can separately dispose of their food scraps, instead of throwing them away with the rest of the household trash. This may not sound like a big deal, but it marks an important step forward on the path to building a more sustainable future for our community. It’s a win-win-win proposition for all of us. Any resident who self-hauls their trash to the Hampton Bays Transfer Station can immediately save some money by reducing the amount of trash they ... by Joe Lamport

Take a Leap

John Leonard is one of the good ones. I have been on boards throughout the community with him, and he is courageous, honest and smart. In this turbulent time, the Southampton Town Council needs his sane and moderate voice. We need to foster inclusion and communication, which at the moment is not the way of politics, and, for that matter, our community. Let’s actually try to find consensus for our community. Let’s take a leap into a forgotten skill of collaboration and communication with the knowledge of and best interest in mind of all of our community. Join me in ... by Staff Writer

Not a Drill

I implore Congressman Nick LaLota to fulfill his own promise and stand up for Long Island by refusing to yield Congress’s power, and that of his constituents, to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. In light of the recent actions taken by the executive branch via Elon Musk (though without oversight or transparency it’s unclear who is really in charge with these actions) to gut the federal government and usurp the power of the purse from Congress, conferred by Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, I want to know what he intends to do to preserve our community’s ... by Staff Writer

Slow Down

I want to take this opportunity to thank Southampton Town Council member Michael Iasilli. The work he did to get the speed limit sign up and then reinstalled in a location that should keep the cars heading east going slower than they have been is remarkable. I’m sure most people have seen this sign by now. It’s outside Saaz on the southeast side of County Road 39 [“Southampton Town Police Plan Crackdown on Speeders Along County Road 39,” 27east.com, February 5]. With this sign and the additional police stopping speeders, hopefully, we will have fewer accidents. We did suggest another ... by Staff Writer

Condescending

I am writing this letter as a lifelong Democrat, former co-chair of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee and also former president of the J.P. Spata Democratic Club. I don’t recall ever reading as condescending a letter as the one by Andrea Klausner printed last week in your paper [“Not Productive,” Letters, February 6]. Actually, I think it went well beyond condescending and landed squarely in the ballpark of insulting. Whether out of hypocrisy or ignorance, Ms. Klausner criticizes fellow local Democrats for attacking other fellow local Democrats by doing some serious attacking herself. She accuses them of “emotional overload” as ... by Staff Writer

Graceful Solution

As a member of the 12th generation of my family to live in Southampton, I have observed with dismay the behavior of the leadership of the Southampton History Museum regarding the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery. Until recently, I have been both impressed with and grateful for the work of the museum. I have proudly watched my wife, Kathy, serve on the museum board, my sister Anne serve as the board’s president, and most recently our daughter Meghan served on the board. Many in the community know that Meghan was the first board member to resign, expressing her opposition to the ... by Staff Writer