When a friend went for an interview at Doubleday in Manhattan, Mr. Snyder tagged along, and before long was hired as a trainee. “He could rub the material of a jacket between his thumb and forefinger,” Mr. Snyder said in The Times Magazine profile, “and in no more than a second, proclaim, ‘$3.34 a yard.’ He would be right to the penny. I had that gift of feel when it came to books.”In a climate that Mr. Snyder helped create, he billed himself as a businessman rather than as a man of letters. In addition to his son Matthew, from his marriage to Ms. Freund, he is survived by a daughter from that marriage, Jackie; two other sons, Richard Elliott Snyder Jr. and Coleman Yorke, from his marriage to Ms. Yorke; and two grandchildren. Mr. Snyder thrived under Simon & Schuster’s ownership by Gulf and Western Industries, which bought the company in 1975.

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Persons: Snyder, Mr, Korda, Dick, ” Mr, Snyder’s, Ruth Freund, Laura Yorke, Terresa Liu, Matthew, Ms, Freund, Jackie, Richard Elliott Snyder Jr, Coleman Yorke, Yorke, Simon, Charles G, Bludhorn, Martin Davis, Davis Organizations: Doubleday, The Times Magazine, Western Industries, Paramount Pictures Locations: Manhattan, Gulf, Western