Dr. Mark Jon Snyder

Dr. Mark Jon Snyder was an amazing, unique, and super-special human. He was born on Thanksgiving Day -- November 28, 1946 -- to Margy Raley Snyder and King Snyder in Miami Beach, Florida. He died of an aortic dissection, which happened suddenly and very unexpectedly, on January 2, 2026, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife, Lisa Gueldenzoph Snyder.

In 1951 at four years old while visiting his grandparents in Baltimore, Maryland, Mark made friends with the neighbor's sons, who were students at McDonough Military School. When the bus came to pick them up, Mark went too and impressed the faculty and staff so much that he was invited to enroll in their accelerated "early-out" program and graduated high school at the age of 13.

In 1960, Mark attended Miami University in Coral Gables, Florida, but had to get an apartment off campus because he was not old enough to live in the dormitory. He earned his keep by lifeguarding at the Fontainebleau and flourished academically, earning high honors, graduating with his bachelor's degree at 18, and moving on to his military career.

In 1964, Mark enlisted in the Army with the goal of earning Special Forces status based on his deep respect and admiration for John F. Kennedy who was instrumental in endorsing the importance of counterinsurgency operations. Mark was a Green Beret and served three tours during the Vietnam War as a medic and combat officer as part of an A-Team, earning a Purple Heart and many commendations for valor and courage. Over the years, he went through several levels of training, including Army Rangers, Army Airborne, and Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school (BUD/S). He loved flying helicopters, jumping out of airplanes, leading special ops missions, teaching martial arts, and traveling the world. In total, his military service spanned 40 years, mostly in the reserves, retiring as a full colonel.

After transitioning from full-time duty to reserves in the 1970's, Mark leveraged his military benefits to attend medical school at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and became a partner in a medical group as a neurologist. He continued to practice medicine while "playing Army" for many years. As the ever-eager student, Mark also earned multiple graduate degrees, including Industrial Psychology, Instructional Systems Development, and Business Administration. After becoming disillusioned with the role health insurance companies played in his patients' outcomes, he retired from medicine and started MSA Consulting Group, working with Fortune 500 organizations and State Boards of Education on workforce training, staff development, and productivity issues. Between 1980-1995, Mark wrote over 100 software application manuals and contributed to numerous books and journal articles on the effective integration of computer technology in education. He often served as a keynote speaker at educational conferences, which is where he met his future wife, Lisa.

Mark was a very well-practiced bachelor until age 58 in 2005 when he married for the first time. He and his wife, Lisa (a university professor), collaborated on research and consulting contracts, traveling both nationally and internationally. Mark also served as a part-time adjunct professor teaching international management courses at Elon University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro before fully retiring in 2017 at the age of 70.

Throughout Mark's life, scuba diving held a very special place in his heart. He was one of the first people in the country to obtain certification as a PADI Open Water Diver and continued his skill sets as a Rescue Diver and Master Scuba Diver — both for military purposes and volunteer work. On vacations, Mark was always eager to support new divers (aka "guppies") as they learned to love the ocean and explore the extraordinary underwater world. Mark's "happy place" was descending into crystal-clear waters where vibrant coral reefs stretch like living gardens, and schools of tropical fish swirl in dazzling colors. Mark met many of his best and dearest friends on dive trips, creating lasting relationships with people who felt like family. Mark also made friends with sea turtles, eels, nurse sharks, manta rays, and anything else he could get to eat out of his hands. He dove all over the world — except for Yap, the westernmost island in the Federated States of Micronesia, which was still on his bucket list.

Photography was also one of Mark's many passions. There are not many photographs of Mark to share because he was always behind the camera documenting everything and everyone he could — family, friends, wildlife, and his beloved pets. His camera collection is quite extensive, starting with a Ciro-flex twin-lens from the 1940s. Whether it was black-and-white, color, stills, video, Photoshop, etc., Mark made sure he always had the latest-and-greatest technology. He had an incredible eye for detail and composition, always looking for the perfect light and angle. The boxes of underwater slides and the terabyte cloud of digital images will live on to showcase Mark's incredible life experiences.

Mark loved to travel. Whether through his military adventures, consulting gigs, or vacation get-aways, he managed to go nearly everywhere and do nearly everything. If there was a topic of conversation, Mark had something to say about it — history, military, medicine, education, technology, politics — you name it! One of his college professors called him a "walking encyclopedia." Though never formally diagnosed, Mark had an identic memory, being able to recall the exact reproduction of sensory experiences, almost like a mental photograph. Back in the day when you couldn't "ask Alexa," you could always ask Mark.

Having lived through open-heart surgery in 2008 (six bypasses!), Mark fully embraced and sincerely loved his life. He spent his golden years doting on his bird feeders and putting out daily feeding stations for squirrels, racoons, foxes, deer, and even skunks — Mark called it the "Snyder Buffet." He was also the BEST cat daddy to dozens of strays and rescues over the years and kept treats handy for the neighbors’ dogs.

As a medical professional and educator, Mark always said he wanted to donate his body to science. Lisa told him he needed to set that up ahead of time but, of course, he didn’t. However, Mark had listed himself as an organ donor on his driver’s license, so when the call came to ask about honoring Mark’s end-of-life decisions, Lisa learned that not only would everything salvageable be transplanted into living patients, but that as many tissues and structures as possible would be donated to medical schools for teaching purposes – the perfect blend of Mark’s passions for medicine and education.

Mark did not want a funeral service or memorial. He did not have a specific charity of choice, but for those who want to extend a gesture to honor his life, Mark would probably tell you to donate to your local animal shelter or adopt a stray in need. And be an organ donor! He would also tell you to hug your loved ones extra tightly and make each day as special and as memorable as possible. You always think there will be more time, until there isn't. Every day is one less day.

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