Background
Henry Nelson Snyder was born on January 14, 1865 in Macon, Georgia.
Henry Nelson Snyder was born on January 14, 1865 in Macon, Georgia.
He attended Vanderbilt University, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity, graduating in 1887. He also studied at the University of Göttingen, Germany earned Snyder a Doctor of Philosophy
He served as president of Wofford College from 1902 until his retirement in 1942. Snyder taught Latin at his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, from 1887 to 1890. He arrived in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in September 1890 to become professor of English literature.
In 1902, he succeeded James H. Carlisle as president of Wofford College.
Snyder served on the Board of Trustees of Spartanburg Junior College from its inception in 1911 until his death and was chairman of that board several times. He served on the Methodist unification commission as well the joint hymnal commission.
Snyder"s autobiography, An Educational Odyssey, was published in 1947. He died at the Mary Black Hospital at the age of 84 on September 18, 1949 one day short of the fifty-ninth anniversary of his arrival in Spartanburg.
After funeral services at the Wofford College Chapel (now known as the Leonard Auditorium, in the Old Main building), Doctor Snyder was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina.
A Phi Beta Kappa, Snyder was a member of the Modern Language Association and the Religious Education Association.