Chuck Snyder, Head of NCB and a Co-op “Hero,” Dies at 68

Chuck Snyder, chief executive of National Cooperative Bank (NCB) and widely regarded as a “tremendous hero” of housing cooperatives, died on Nov. 6 at the age of 68. The cause of death, according to NCB, was an aortic aneurysm.

“Chuck basically saved co-ops in New York – there’s no other way to say it,” says Stuart Saft, a partner at the law firm Holland & Knight who served on the NCB board of directors from 1998 to 2012. “After tax reform in 1986, the Savings & Loan crisis happened, and a lot of co-op sponsors started to default. Without Chuck going to other lenders and telling them not to push to foreclose, there would be no co-ops today. When I got the call that he had died, I was devastated. It’s incredibly sad. He did so much for cooperative housing in New York.”

Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums, echoes Saft’s words: “I think Chuck was a tremendous hero for all kinds of cooperatives. His death is a devastating loss for all of us who believe in co-ops. He was a wonderful, quiet, self-effacing man.”

Snyder’s lifelong career in cooperatives began in 1980, when he was hired as the president of Temporaries Federal Credit Union. In 1983 he was hired by NCB as corporate vice president and chief financial officer. In 1992, he was named NCB’s president and chief executive.

Snyder was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame in 2012, and he received the Jerry Voorhis Award from the National Association of Housing Cooperatives for his long-standing commitment to affordable housing cooperatives. In 2017, Snyder was the recipient of the Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award presented by the Consumer Federation of America for his commitment to consumer rights.

A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Snyder was an avid sailor. He is survived by his wife Karen and their daughters, Maggie and Ana.