Clifford Snyder Sr.

Dr. Clifford Charles Snyder 1916 ~ 2007 Clifford C. Snyder, Sr. passed away June 15, 2007. Born February 16, 1916 in Ft. Worth, Texas as the youngest of eight children to Charles Ludwig and Olga Agnes Kalisch Snyder. Married Mary Odessa Morris March 12, 1939. Clifford attended Daytona Beach High School (class president three consecutive years) and then Texas Christian University as an offensive center on the football team with the future Hall of Fame quarterback "Slingin Sammy Baugh." He served his country valiantly in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II, serving on several ships including the U.S. Ticonderoga as ship surgeon/Lieutenant Senior Grade. Dr. Snyder was a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who spent his entire life healing, caring, and comforting those afflicted and in need of help. He was a professor of surgery and chair of the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City from 1967-1986. He then became Professor Emeritus of Surgery and Associate Dean of Medicine until the time of his death. He was also Chief of Surgery at the Veterans Hospital until 1980 and Chief of Plastic Surgery at the Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children from 1967-1983. During his tenure, Dr. Snyder trained many future surgeons who to this day refer to him respectfully as "Chief." Dr. Snyder led a team of Surgeons in 1975 to Mainland China to work with Chinese doctors on "The American Re-implantation Mission" where two collective technologies shared knowledge to improve methodologies of human limb reattachment. He achieved world notoriety in 1979 for leading a team of surgeons at the University of Utah in separating Lisa and Elisa Hanson, the first successful separation of head-conjoined twins. The "Chief" was a world authority on such varied areas as restoring children's cleft palates, inventing anti-venoms and vaccines to treat snakebite victims to inventing innovative ways such as using nerve-growth hormones for the re-implantation of severed limbs. He was Faculty Athletic Representative for the Western Athletic Conference from 1976-1981 as well as team physician for the U of U Men's Basketball Team. Dr. Snyder also served as an Olympic Team Physician from 1979-1984. He felt one of his great accomplishments in life was serving for his nephew, Mr. Douglas Tong Hsu, on the Board of Trustees of the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan until his passing. Dr. Snyder was an accomplished hunter and fisherman and loved his many adventures with his dear friends, David Freed, Ken Garff, and Orvil Coon. He also loved to work in his den that he and Mary affectionately called 'Doc's Rock Shop' where he made gem and lapidary gifts for his patients and colleagues. In his later life, Clifford joined the LDS Church and was able to provide much service in that area. Dr. Snyder is survived by his son, Clifford C. Snyder, Jr.; daughter-in-law, Sharon Lence Snyder; and his three grandchildren, Stephanie, Julie (Sam) Bechthold, and Clifford Charles Snyder III. He has finally joined his beloved Mary, the true love of his life, to begin this new phase of God's progression. The family would like to thank the Utah State Veterans Nursing Home and their incredible staff for their wonderful service to Dad these last couple of years. We love them and will never forget their tireless giving to make Dad's last years more comforting. In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, Attn: Alice Weber, 10 North 1900 E, SLC, UT 84112. Funeral services will be held Thursday, June 21, 2007, 12 noon at the Monument Park Stake Center, 1320 So. Wasatch Dr, where friends and family may call from 10:30-11:45 a.m. prior to the services. Interment Larkin Sunset Lawn Cemetery.