Charles Richard Snyder

Scott McClurg/Journal-World Photo Rick Snyder, distinguished professor of psychology at KU, researches hope. Snyder is working on ways to teach people to be more hopeful.

Services for Charles Richard “Rick” Snyder, 61, Lawrence, will be announced later.Mr. Snyder died Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006.He was born Dec. 26, 1944, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the son of Charles Fritz and Shirley Schuldt Snyder.He earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Vanderbilt University. He began his academic career in 1972 at Kansas University as an assistant professor of psychology. From 1974 to 2001, he was director of the clinical psychology program at KU. He was the M. Erik Wright distinguished professor in clinical psychology.Mr. Snyder received 27 teaching awards at the university, state and national level, including KU’s HOPE Award in 1991 and 2004, the Outstanding Psychology Teacher in Kansas from the Kansas Psychological Assn., Byron T. Schutz Award for Distinguished Teaching at KU, the Kemper Awards for teaching excellence at KU, and Outstanding Graduate Education award from the American Psychological Assn.His research focused on the ideas of hope and forgiveness, and he wrote or edited 23 books and 262 articles.He received 31 research awards, including the 2002 Balfour Jeffrey Award for Research Achievement in Humanities and Social Science and the 2001 Guilford Press Award for Pioneering Scholarly Contributions in Clinical/Social/Personality Psychology. He received an honorary doctorate in 2005 from Indiana Wesleyan University.He married Rebecca Wright in 1975 in Lawrence. She survives.Other survivors include two sons, Zachary Snyder and James Kemerling, both of Lawrence; a daughter, Staci Kemerling, Lawrence; and two grandchildren.Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. The family suggests memorials to the Kansas University Endowment Association C.R. Snyder Graduate Award in Positive Psychology, sent in care of the funeral home.