Professor Barry B. Snider is honored for his extraordinary, sustained, and consequential service to the Division of Organic Chemistry (DOC) and the organic chemistry community. Over a more than twenty-year period as a member of the Division’s Executive Committee, he served as Councilor, Secretary/Treasurer, Treasurer, and Chair and was elected a Fellow of the ACS in 2011. As Secretary/Treasurer, he modernized our administrative and accounting procedures, moving all aspects of the division, including communications and accounting, from paper to electronic systems, rationalized our endowment portfolio, and led the effort to separate the Secretary and Treasurer roles, allowing for greater member participation and increased efficiency. As Chair and Secretary/Treasurer, he led to major bylaw revisions that were ratified by the division membership. A hallmark of his service is that through sustained and detailed effort, he has left each position better than he found it and continues to mentor those who now hold those roles.
Professor Snider is the Breskin Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Brandeis University. He received his BS in chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1970 and a PhD from Harvard University in 1973 under the direction of EJ Corey. He then completed postdoctoral studies with Ronald Breslow at Columbia University and began his independent career at Princeton University in 1975. In 1981, he moved to Brandeis as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor in 1985 and named the Breskin Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1998. While at Brandeis, he has served as Chair of the Chemistry Department twice for a total of 12 years.
Professor Snider’s research focuses on developing new methods for the construction of highly functionalized organic molecules and the synthesis of natural products. Professor Snider is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and was named a Sloan Fellow, a Cope Scholar, and a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, held a Japan Society for Promotion of Science Fellowship, and was appointed an Honorary Professor at the East China University of Science and Technology. Over his academic career, he has been the author of more than 300 scholarly publications. Professor Snider also served as a member and Chair of the NIH Medicinal Chemistry Study Section, participating in more than 25 panels, and currently serves as the Secretary of Organic Reactions.
Through his sustained contributions to the division and the organic community, Professor Snider has significantly enhanced the welfare of our members, and we are proud to announce that Professor Barry B. Snider is the 2026 Division of Organic Chemistry Paul G. Gassman Distinguished Service Awardee.