ROBERT G. SNOWDEN, 89, a lifelong Memphian, died at home on December 13, 2006. He was President of Wilkinson & Snowden Developments and Chairman Emeritus of Colliers Wilkinson Snowden. He was a graduate of Sewanee Military Academy and the University of the South. Joining the USMC in 1940, he served as a company commander on Guadalcanal with 2d Battalion 8th Marines, a flight instructor at Naval Air Station Pensacola, and later as a flight officer with VMF-121 flying close air support in the F-4 U Corsair at Bougainville, Emeru, and Peleliu where he was critically injured in 1944. He retired from the USMCR in 1953 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He began his real estate career with Russell S. Wilkinson in 1945, and over a period of 15 years, built approximately 4,000 houses throughout Memphis, Biloxi, MS and Columbus, MS. Becoming an industrial developer in 1961, his career included land development, general contracting, and speculative development in Airport Industrial Park and MIAC Business Park including 40 industrial buildings in Memphis. He was honored by Lambda Alpha International with its Lifetime Achievement Award for Real Estate Development in 1995. Always working to develop a better Memphis, he served as President of Home Builders Association of Memphis, Memphis Uniport Association, the Downtown Association, and as a Director of the National Bank of Commerce, Mid-South Title Company, Lincoln American Life Insurance Co., Future Memphis, the Memphis & Shelby County Port Commission, and the I-69 Committee. He was a Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Memphis University School and a Chairman of the Board of Regents at the University of the South from which he received an honorary doctorate in 1976. His community involvement included board service for The Memphis Cotton Carnival Association, The Memphis Belle Association, Memphis Zoological Society, Elmwood Cemetery, The Sunshine Home for Aged Men, The Trezevant Manor, and The Fire Museum of Memphis. A lifelong communicant of Calvary Episcopal Church, he had been a vestryman. He was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary Club International. He loved dove, duck and turkey hunting and was a true woodsman. He spent many hours at the Section 16 Duck Club and the Bob White Farm in Southaven, MS. The Snowden Grove Park in Southaven is named in honor of the gift of land by Bob and his sister, May Snowden Todd. He is predeceased by his sister, May; his brother, Bayard; his parents, Roberta and J. Bayard Snowden; and his daughter, Flo Reynolds. He leaves his wife, Flo; his son and daughter-in-law, Bayard and Lisa Snowden; three grandchildren, Harriet O. Snowden, Robert G. Snowden II, and Catherine Ferris Trahan and her husband, Tim, and children Adam and great-grandson Connor; and his former son-in-law, Doug Ferris. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 16, at Calvary Episcopal Church, 102 N. Second St., with burial at Elmwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests any memorial be sent to Calvary Episcopal Church or The Fire Museum of Memphis.

Source: The Commercial Appeal, 14 Dec 2006