Richard K. Snelling

Born in St. Petersburg, Fla., Richard K. Snelling and his four older brothers attended UF. He worked his way through school doing everything from washing dishes to doing maintenance jobs for the campus housing authority. When his father died during his last semester at UF, Snelling decided to reject a job offer from Southern Bell so that he could be near his mother. Graduating from UF with a degree in industrial engineering in 1955, he took a job as the program director of the YMCA in St. Petersburg for a year. He then decided to go to work for Southern Bell in 1956, staying with the company until his retirement in 1991 as the executive vice president for network operations and a member of the board of directors.

Snelling was involved at UF from his graduation on, serving on the college’s “It’s Performance That Counts” campaign steering committee and the University of Florida Foundation Board of Directors. He created this endowed scholarship in 1997, commenting that, “It is a good feeling to give something back to the university. It’s neat to go from a little kid, who didn’t have anything and who went off to college, to being involved with an institution that is as forward looking as the University of Florida.” Snelling passed away in November of 200