NANCY BREWSTER SNYDER

NANCY BREWSTER SNYDER

1936-2009

Nancy died peacefully at her home in

Newport Beach on February 18, 2009,

of complications from congestive

heart failure. She was 72.

Nancy was born on August 26, 1936

in Glendale, California to William

Brewster Tritt and Gladys Mae Tritt.

In 1947 Nancy’s father moved the

family to Newport Beach and Nancy

attended local schools and graduated

from Newport Harbor High School in

1954. Nancy continued her education at UCLA, graduating

in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education. For

six years she worked as an elementary school teacher in the Los

Angeles City School system where her grandfather, William

Winters Tritt, had been Superintendent in the 1940’s.

Nancy married Kent Giles Snyder in 1958. They moved with

their family to Newport Beach from Los Angeles in 1966.

Thereafter, Nancy lived in either Newport Beach or Laguna

Beach for the rest of her life. The last 12 years were spent on

Lido Isle, where she had lived as a young girl, and which she

dearly loved.

Nancy’s greatest loves in life were her family, cooking and

the visual arts. Nancy’s favorite occasion was having all of

her family with her in her home enjoying superbly cooked

meals. She spent countless hours in the kitchen perfecting

her culinary art. Nancy attended cooking schools in Paris,

Provence, Tuscany, Bangkok and Hong Kong. At one point

in her life, she gave cooking classes in her home in Laguna

Beach.

Nancy was committed to community service, especially in the

visual arts. She was on the Board of Trustees for many years

at the Laguna College of Art & Design. Some of those years

she was Chairman of the Board of Trustees and she was the

acting President of the College on two occasions. In 1996,

she was instrumental in purchasing the last two acres of land

for the College from The Irvine Company, raising $66,000 in

30 days in order to complete the purchase, in the last month

of the three-year option, that the College had from The Irvine

Company. It is because of Nancy that there is a parking lot at

the College. During her time on the Board of Trustees, Nancy

created Collectors Choice, a fine art event and auction for

the College, which held its 19th consecutive annual Collectors

Choice event in 2008. Nancy is a Trustee Emeritus at the

College. Nancy was also on the Board of Trustees of the

Orange County Museum of Art for many years, where she

has a gallery named in her honor. She was a member of

Visionaries for over 20 years, a support group for the Orange

County Museum of Art. She was President of Visionaries for

two annual terms.

In 1994, the Los Angeles Times of Orange County designed

Nancy as a Volunteer of Distinction. The Red Cross of Orange

County designated Nancy to their Gold Circle in 2002.

Nancy also loved to travel with her husband and they visited

over 60 countries on 5 continents during their travels. Nancy

loved to garden and spent countless hours cultivating her

roses and her orchids. In recent years she had her absolute

best orchid displays, filling her entire patio with blooms every

year. The true spirit of Nancy was to work hard and give back

to others. She believed in people and took great pleasure in

being able to help others and see them succeed. She especially

loved her family and adored all of her grandchildren.

Nancy is survived by her husband, Kent Snyder, her three

children and their spouses, Maria and Jim Hardy, Elizabeth

and Nicholas Jaros, and Amy and Kent Snyder, Jr. Her six

grandchildren are Dylan and Samantha Hardy, Zoë Jaros,

Nicholas, William and Katherine Snyder. She will be missed

by all of them more than words can express.

Services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be

made in memory of Nancy to: Hoag Hospital Foundation,

One Hoag Drive, P.O. Box 6100, Newport Beach, CA 92658-

6100.