John Austen Snyder ’55

Born June 25, 1933, in Passaic, N.J., to Margaret Overacre and Austen Snyder, John graduated from Ridgewood (N.J.) High School. At Princeton he was a psychology major, Tower Club member, and roommate of Peter Brown, Dave Bianchi, and Herb Ahrens.

A big, warm, much-loved man, John made others smile when they saw him coming. Blessed with humility and humor, he described life with Sally, his wife of 53 years, as being like the grace of God — undeserved and unparalleled.

John retired as senior vice president at the Bank of New York and then worked for the pension fund of the Episcopal Church. He was a pillar of the Ridgewood community for the better part of 53 years.

He and Sally were close in life and in death, Sally dying Nov. 6, 2012, of breast cancer, and John on Nov. 18, 2012, of prostate cancer. They leave a wide circle of friends; their daughters, Susan S. Austin and Ann S. Mooradian; Sally’s brothers, Calvin Bruce and Jackson Bruce; and John’s sister, Virginia Bartholomew.

“There is nothing too little for so little a creature as man. By studying the little things we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.” — Samuel Johnson