Ed Snider

Ed Snider
Ed Snider photographed by Michael Alan Goldberg
Born	(1933-01-06) January 6, 1933 Washington D.C., United States
Ethnicity	Jewish
Education	B.A. University of Maryland
Occupation	Chairman, Comcast Spectacor
Spouse(s)	--Myrna Snider (divorced) Martha McGeary (divorced) --Christine Decroix (divorced) --Lin Spivak
Children	with Myrna Snider: --Craig Snider --Jay Snider --Lindy Snider --Tina Snider with McGeary: --Sarena Snider --Samuel Snider

Edward Malcolm "Ed" Snider (born January 6, 1933) is the chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company that owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Wells Fargo Center, the regional sports network Comcast SportsNet and Global Spectrum, an international facilities management company. He formerly owned the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association.

Business career

Snider was born to a Jewish family in the Washington D.C. region, the son of a grocery-store chain owner. He attended the University of Maryland and earned his bachelor's degree. He would become a partner in Edge Ltd., a record company.

After selling the company, Snider joined Jerry Wolman (builder) and his brother-in-law Earl Foreman (attorney) to buy the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964. He was given a 7 percent stake in the team, and served as vice president and treasurer.

Upon learning that the NHL was planning to expand, Snider made plans for a new arena—the Spectrum—to house both a hockey team and the 76ers. On February 8, 1966, the NHL awarded Philadelphia a conditional franchise, one which would eventually be named the Philadelphia Flyers and start playing in 1967. Snider assumed control of the Spectrum in 1971 taking over as Chairman of the Board. In 1974 Snider created Spectacor as a holding company for the Flyers and the Spectrum. The Flyers became the first NHL expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in 1974, and to repeat as champions in 1975.

Spectacor would found or acquire several businesses under his direction, most notably a regional premium cable channel, PRISM, and the first all-sports radio station, WIP. Seeing that a new arena would keep the Flyers competitive with the rest of the league, Snider began planning for what would become the CoreStates Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in 1988.

Prior to the Wells Fargo Center's opening in 1996, he sold a 66% stake in Spectacor to Philadelphia-based Comcast, creating Comcast Spectacor. However, Snider remained chairman of the venture, retaining a 34% interest. Soon after, Comcast Spectacor along with the Philadelphia Phillies created Comcast SportsNet in 1996. The company also bought the 76ers, who had been Snider's tenants since 1971. Comcast Spectacor also won an expansion franchise in the AHL, the Phantoms.

In a 1999 Philadelphia Daily News poll, Snider was selected as the city’s greatest sports mover and shaker, beating out legends such as Connie Mack, Sonny Hill, Bert Bell, and Roger Penske.

In 2005, Snider became a prominent investor in a Foxwoods slots casino proposed for the waterfront in Philadelphia. In September 2008, facing massive opposition at the originally intended site, backers for the slots casino decided to seek a new location in the Center City area, next to Philadelphia's Chinatown community.

Ed Snider is the executive producer of the film Atlas Shrugged: Part I. In an interview published in the Philadelphia Metro newspaper on April 26, 2011, Snider was quoted as saying, "They tried to make this film for 50 years . . . Hollywood did not want to make this movie because it did not adhere to its liberal agenda."

Nonprofit organizations

In 1985, Snider was one of the founding contributors of the Ayn Rand Institute, which was established by the philosopher Leonard Peikoff to promote the advancement of Objectivism. In 1990, after the Peikoff–Kelley split (see Objectivist Movement), Snider became a backer of the rival organization now known as The Atlas Society.

In 2005, Snider created the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation to provide a means to reach inner-city children in the Philadelphia area and provide them with the opportunity to learn to play hockey. Hockey, however, is only the “hook” — the program promises to teach the children necessary life skills, and provides them with educational assistance that furthers their classroom abilities.

Snider is a generous supporter of the Chabad Lubavitch.

Honors and awards

In 1988, Snider was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In 1997, Snider was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2005, Snider was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2011, Snider was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Snider's children include Craig, Jay, Lindy, Tina, Sarena and Samuel. Snider also has 15 grandchildren. His son Jay Snider served as president of the Philadelphia Flyers from 1983 to 1994 and president of Spectacor, Inc. from 1987 to 1994.

Snider has been married four times. His first marriage was to Myrna. They had four children and divorced in 1981. In 1983, he married model Martha McGeary with whom he had two children. They later divorced. In 2004, he married Belgian Christine Decroix (born 1957), a former singer for the Belgian girl-pop group the Lovelettes in the 1970s. They divorced in 2009. He married his fourth wife, Lin Spivak (born 1968), on February 14, 2013.

Snider is a brother of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

External links

• Ed Snider's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation