Robert E. Snead Sr., retired pressroom manager, dies at 80

Robert E. Snead Sr., a retired pressroom manager who worked for Richmond Newspapers for 44 years, died Tuesday after suffering from Parkinson's disease for many years. He was 80.

Mr. Snead, of Manakin-Sabot, started in newspapering in 1950, when his father got him a position as an apprentice pressman. Mr. Snead's father worked for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for 52 years as a pressman, and six of Mr. Snead's uncles worked for the paper at one time or another.

"He loved his job," said his wife of 56 years, Mary Snead. "He'd work all day, he'd come home, take a nap, eat his supper and go back to work all night. Not a whole lot of people do that now. But he was very, very dedicated."

Mr. Snead worked at the downtown presses before the printing operation was moved to the current facility in Hanover County.

Mr. Snead went to Japan at least three times to work with the Japanese on developing the best design for the Mitsubishi presses that now are used at the Hanover facility, said Clifford Brown, who took Mr. Snead's position when he retired in 1994.

Brown also praised Mr. Snead for his devotion.

"His love of . . . the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The [Richmond] News Leader was as strong as any one newspaper person I ever knew," Brown said. "He loved everything about printing."

"He was there day and night on so many occasions, working to get the newspaper out," Brown added. "That kind of loyalty is hard to come by these days."

Mr. Snead also enjoyed fishing and playing golf, and he had been a member of the Richmond Country Club.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Robert "Eddie" Snead Jr. of Charlottesville and Michael J. Snead of Ashland; a daughter, Kathy Coalson of Glen Allen; a sister, Anne Martin of Virginia Beach; two brothers, Charles O. Snead of Chesterfield County and George F. Snead of Mechanicsville; and a granddaughter.

A funeral will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Matthew's United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Greenwood Memorial Gardens.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .