September 10, 2004

JOAN SNYDER, PIONEERING CBS NEWS PRODUCER AND CORRESPONDENT DIES AT THE AGE OF 69

Joan Snyder, a former CBS News producer and correspondent who was one of the first female network news field producers, died yesterday (9) after a long illness. She was 69 and lived in Manhattan.

Snyder worked as a writer, producer and then wrote, produced and reported her own stories on air - one of only a handful of women or men to do so then - in a career lasting nearly 30 years at CBS News. She wrote and produced for several CBS News legends, including Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and the late Charles Kuralt, on programs that included the first half-hour daily morning network news program, "CBS Morning News With Mike Wallace," the Saturday and Sunday editions of the CBS EVENING NEWS and SUNDAY MORNING.

"Joan Snyder was a great journalist and a distinguished CBS News professional for a long time," said Dan Rather.? "She was one of the pioneer women reporters who opened new opportunities for women at CBS News and throughout American journalism in the 1960s and 1970s. She did it by hard work, talent and adherence to the highest standards.? We miss her and will not forget her."

Described by her colleagues as a fine writer with a bold attitude, she made her own way in what was then a male bastion. She was among the first women to go out on the road with camera crews to cover stories starting in 1967 - a gritty business of constant travel, long hours and looming deadlines. But breaking such barriers was nothing new to Snyder, who was the first female editor-in-chief at her college newspaper, The Observation Post, the student newspaper of City College of New York.

The editor's job landed her the coveted New York Times job as correspondent for City College, but upon graduation, she could only find a journalism job writing for a food trade magazine. That experience and a promise never to marry got Snyder hired at the Newark bureau of United Press International in 1958, where she stayed until joining CBS News in 1961 as a news writer at the age of 25.

The writing job led to her producing role on Saturday and Sunday editions of the CBS EVENING NEWS, where her writing skills shined in features. She also covered all the big breaking news of the time, in addition to elections, conventions and the Apollo Space program. Snyder became a producer/correspondent after getting in front of the camera during a 1972 interview she was producing on Don McLean, who wrote and sang mega-hit "American Pie."

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CBS News Snyder Obit...2

She began to appear on air frequently in pieces she wrote and produced herself. In the early 1980s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and fought it successfully with the then-controversial surgical procedure of lumpectomy, in which only the cancerous tissue is excised. Snyder then produced and reported a series for the Weekend News about the procedure that helped educate women on the alternative to the standard treatment of radical mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed.

Snyder joined CBS News SUNDAY MORNING in 1987 as producer/correspondent, where she wrote, produced and reported mostly thoughtful features and profiles, including one on Harry Connick, Jr. before he became a huge star.

She left CBS News in 1991 and became a freelance producer, working for such entities as Time-Warner, Fox and WCBS-TV. She also worked for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, creating a video unit there.

Joan Diane Snyder was born on July 20, 1935 near Baltimore to Emmanuel and Louise Snyder, who moved to Louisville, Ky. shortly after the birth of their only child. The family moved to the Bronx, where Joan attended local public schools before enrolling in CCNY. She was graduated in 1957 from the school with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.

Snyder is survived by two half brothers, Robert and Kenneth Snyder, and her stepmother, Catherine Snyder, all of whom live in New York.

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Contact: Kevin Tedesco 212 975-2329 EMAIL kev@cbsnews.com for JPEG of Joan Snyder