Paul A. Snook ’57

Paul loved music; it was the passion that framed his life. His French-born mother took him to movie musicals as a child, where he absorbed the soundtracks. Later on, a music course at the Lawrenceville School enabled him to relate the harmonies and rhythms of contemporary pop composers with those of modem classical ones.

After graduating with an English degree, Paul moved to Manhattan, where he haunted Sam Goody’s and the Dayton music stores, meeting others who passed their music expertise on to him. Eventually, he amassed a modern music collection of more than 20,000 LP records that he donated to Columbia University, where he had earned a master’s degree in American literature.

Paul reviewed music for Fanfare and High Fidelity magazines. He worked briefly for our classmates Henry Bessire (arts fundraising) and Winston Kulok (Greenwich Village real estate). He most enjoyed music programming at a local radio station and selling records at a friend’s record shop. Paul held a civil-service position at the New York State Housing Department, from which he retired in 2008. Thereafter, he traveled with his companion, Suzanne Schwartz.

Paul died Nov. 28, 2014. He leaves a daughter, Raven, to whom he gave “an insatiable love of movies, theater, music, and books,” and a granddaughter, Marlena.