Esther Snyder | |
|---|---|
| Born | Esther Lavelle Johnson (1920-01-07)January 7, 1920 |
| Died | August 4, 2006(2006-08-04) (aged 86) |
| Known for | Co-foundingIn-N-Out Burger |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Guy Snyder Rich Snyder Wilbur Stites |
Esther Lavelle Snyder (néeJohnson) (January 7, 1920 – August 4, 2006) was an American businesswoman. She co-foundedIn-N-Out Burger, with her husbandHarry Snyder, in 1948. Snyder was the fast-food chain's president from January 2000 until her death.
Snyder was born and raised inSorento, Illinois, as the fifth of eight children (seven daughters, one son) to parents Orla and Mabel Johnson. She attendedGreenville College and graduated fromSeattle Pacific University with abachelor's degree inzoology.[1]
During In-N-Out's early years, Snyder managed all of the company bookkeeping herself, creating thousands of pages of handwritten notes and accounts.
From January 2000 until her August 2006 death, Snyder served as the company's president.
She metHarry Snyder in 1947, while working at a restaurant in Seattle; the two were married the following year and moved toBaldwin Park, California.[2] By the late 1950s, the couple had moved to a larger house in the nearby city ofSan Dimas, California.
Esther and Harry Snyder had three children: biological sonsGuy (1951-1999) andRich Snyder (1952-1993), and an adopted son named Wilbur Stites (1951-1979), a local orphan whom the Snyders began fostering in the early 1960s. Esther outlived her husband, who died in 1976 fromlung cancer and all three of their sons: Guy succumbed to adrug overdose, Rich died in aplane crash and Wilbur was killed in anautomobile crash.
Following her husband's death, Snyder spent the last two decades of her life living inGlendora, California, where she owned a home that author Stacy Perman described as "a ranch house shaded by oak trees and fronted by a white fence."
Snyder died on August 4, 2006, inIrvine, California, aged 86, from undisclosed causes. Her only grandchild,Lynsi Snyder, is now the heiress to the In-N-Out Burger company.[3][4]
Since In-N-Out Burger was started in the city of Baldwin Park, the city named its community center after Esther Snyder.[5]