Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Director of our Jerusalem Program



Brother R. J. Snow 1937 ~ 2006

Obituary

We lost our husband, father, and "Papa" very suddenly as a result of injuries sustained in an auto accident on June 6, 2006, in Provo, Utah. R.J. (Reuben Joseph) was born on October 15, 1937, to Glenn and Laura Gardner Snow. He attended public schools in St. George and later in Washington D.C. where he graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School. He returned to the "red hills of home" each summer and worked in Pine Valley on his uncle's ranch.

He attended Dixie College and was student body president, after which he served as an LDS missionary in France, Belgium and Switzerland. After his mission, he studied at the University of Utah where he received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in history. He married Marilyn Melville in 1962 after they met during their summer jobs in Washington, D.C. He received a second Masters Degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University in Illinois. A year of postdoctoral research followed at the University of Oregon, followed by a faculty appointment at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The entire family traveled to the University of Bordeaux in France where R.J. served as Associate Director of the Study Abroad Program for two years. In 1971, R.J. joined the administrative team of Dr. David P. Gardner at the University of Utah where he served as Assistant to the President, then simultaneously as Vice President for University Relations and Director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and as Associate Professor of Political Science. In 1985, R.J. accepted a position as President of the Jacobsen Company, a parent company to Jacobsen Construction.

In July 1987, R.J. and Marilyn and their family were called to preside in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission of the LDS Church. R.J. joined Brigham Young University in 1990 and served as Student Life Vice President, later as Advancement Vice President and then as director of the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies in Israel from 1998-2000. They returned to Provo in the Summer of 2000, where R.J. maintained his current faculty assignment as Professor of Political Science where he has focused the past few years to teaching African politics, American government and public policy and serving as the 2004 Faculty Advisor for the BYU Washington Seminar program.

During the reconstruction of the LDS Nauvoo Temple, R.J. and Marilyn served a two-year mission together as Directors of Public Affairs and he as Manager of Nauvoo Restoration Inc. R.J. was committed to volunteerism and civic engagement and served on literally dozens of boards of directors and committees including the Provo-Orem and Salt Lake Area Chambers of Commerce, the Utah Symphony, the Utah Affiliate of the American Diabetes Association, and both the United Way in Salt Lake and Utah County. He was a former member of the Utah Governor's Commission on Women and Families, the Board of Directors of The Deseret News, and the Advisory Board to KSL Radio and Television. Currently, he has served on the Dixie State College Board of Trustees. His circle of influence positively affected scores of people worldwide through education, civic and church activities. With many titles over his lifetime, his favorite was "Papa" to his five loving grandchildren- Callie, Laura, Sara, J.J. and Julia. They will miss him deeply and he loved them more than words can say. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn; children, Gina (Burnett) Thackeray, Laura Snow, Scott (Brittany) Snow, Noelle (Jay) Robinson. A memorial service and celebration of his life will be held on Monday, June 12, 2006 at 12:00 noon at the Provo Oak Hills Stake Center located at 925 E. North Temple Drive (2200 North) in Provo. In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the R.J. Snow Public Policy Internship at the Hinckley Institute of Politics or your choice of local charitable nonprofit organizations or Utah institutions of Higher Education.

1 comment:

Bracken said...

Even Brother Snow sent in an update for our blog!