Roy Snyder

Title: Roy Snyder fonds

Dates of creation: 1955, 1998, 2003-2004, 2015

Physical description: 1 cm  of textual records

Biographical sketch: Roy Snyder (1915-2015) was born to Old Order Mennonite parents, Edwin and Leah Gingrich Snyder, and grew up on a farm halfway between Waterloo and Conestoga at the crossroads of Country Squire Road and Northfield Drive. When he was eleven years old, the family left the Old Order and joined the St. Jacobs Mennonite Church. In 1944, he married Clara Weber (1919-2005). Following their marriage, he transferred his membership to Erb Street Mennonite Church. During World War II he did farm work as part of the Alternative Service program.

Snyder began working in the artificial insemination field in 1946 with the Waterloo Holstein Breeders Association, later called the Waterloo Cattle Breeding Association. This was the first organization in the world to use 100% frozen semen, which allowed for the export of semen anywhere in the world. In 1974, he became one of the founders of Semen Exports Canada, later called Semex Alliance. Roy Snyder died 11 February 2015.

Custodial history: Items 1 and 2 donated to the Archives in 2012 by Marion Roes.

Notes: Original archival description created 2012 by Laureen Harder-Gissing.
For an autobiography, see: It was all worthwhile : the life and times of Roy and Clara Snyder / Snyder, Roy G. and Snyder, Clara. - Markham, Ont. : Pennsylvania German Folklore Society of Ontario, 2010.
 

File list:

1. Materials from the 50th anniversary of Semex Alliance, including a copy of a speech made by Roy Snyder in 1955 on "Problems encountered in converting to an all frozen semen program."
2. Transcript and notes of an interview with Roy and Clara Snyder by Karl Kessler, 10 Aug 1998
3. Extended obituary from the Waterloo Region Record, 23 Mar 2015
4. "My memories of Russian Mennonites coming to Waterloo in 1924" / Roy Snyder (presentation at Erb Street Mennonite Church)