The stock market lost its greatest fan when Richard A. Snyder, 85, died on December 8, 2014, at St. Catherine’s Hospital.

He was born on May 28, 1929, in Enid, Okla., the youngest child of the late Charles and Frances Snyder.

After graduating from high school in Enid, he joined the Marine Corps in 1946. He was honorably discharged in 1948.

Dick attended Oklahoma State University, thanks to the G.I. Bill, graduating in May 1952 with a degree in accounting.

On Jan. 31, 1958, he married Jean Appel in Chicago.

He was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and worked for the public accounting firms of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. and Arthur Young & Co., starting his career in Dallas before transferring to Chicago.

After living on the north side of Chicago and then Morton Grove, Ill., the couple moved to Kenosha in October of 1961 when Dick joined the MacWhyte Company as an accounting manager. On June 1, 1969, he was promoted to secretary-treasurer of MacWhyte.

After teaching evening accounting courses for several years, Dick joined the business department faculty of Carthage College full time in 1978, preaching the gospel of balancing the books and keeping your ledgers organized to thousands of students. Even after officially retiring from Carthage, he continued to teach courses there for several years.

While living in Chicago. Dick was a Chicago Bears season ticket holder and was a proud member of the “APB” (anti-Packer backer) Club for decades. In recent years, however, he also cheered for the Green Bay Packers … though he never completely gave up on his first love.

He owned cabin-cruiser boats for several years, spending summer weekends on Lake Michigan and being an active member (and the 1978 Yachtsman of the Year) at the Kenosha Yacht Club.

He and his wife enjoyed several cruises, to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico and the Panama Canal, and in 1999 they took a family trip to Scotland, London and Paris. They also had season tickets for several years to the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and the Broadway in Chicago theater series.

Dick was an avid reader, a devotee of Time magazine and a daily watcher of CNBC and stock market news. He strongly believed in the power of compound interest and investing your money for the long term.

In addition to his wife of 56 years, Jean Snyder; he is survived by four daughters, Karen (Ralph Giannola) Snyder of Richmond, VA, Kathryn (Rev. Craig) Wolfgram of Wisconsin Dells, Elizabeth (Rex Davenport) Snyder of Kenosha, and Patricia (Steve Stockton) Snyder of Atlanta, GA; along with his grandchildren, Caitlin Wolfgram and Nicholas Stockton.

He is further survived by his brother, Don Snyder of Tulsa, OK.

Service Info

A Memorial Service in celebration of Richard’s life will be held on Monday, December 22, 2014 at 12:00 Noon at the Piasecki-Althaus Funeral Home, 3720 39th Avenue with full military honors following. Private entombment will take place in All Saints Mausoleum.