Paul Snyder, a longtime Buffalo business owner with influence across a wide array of ventures, passed away Monday. He was 94.
The news was shared by his daughter, longtime Buffalo radio personality Janet Snyder.
His business portfolio was expansive, including Freezer Queen frozen foods, the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Buffalo, and developing Darien Lake into a popular amusement park.
The latter began when Snyder bought 500 acres of land in Genesee County in 1964. Over time he grew the property into campgrounds and the amusement park. He sold Darien Lake in 1983.
Snyder may be best known in Buffalo for his ownership of the former Buffalo Braves pro basketball franchise for most of its existence. The team entered the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team. In very short time its original owners, a hedge fund group from New York City, ran into problems and the league assumed control of the franchise. Snyder, who had recently sold off his ownership of Freezer Queen, stepped in and bought the Braves.
The Braves, though popular, struggled to secure prime game dates and times while sharing Memorial Auditorium with the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres and local college basketball. The Braves were third in the pecking order, behind the Sabres and Canisius College.
Snyder sold the team to John Y. Brown in 1978. Brown, in turn, agreed to an odd exchange of franchises with Ira Lewin, who owned the Boston Celtics. Brown took over the Celtics, while Lewin assumed control of the Braves. But Lewin then relocated the team to San Diego, where they were renamed the Clippers. The team later moved again to become the current Los Angeles Clippers.
In the 1980s, Snyder developed the Hyatt Regency and opened E.B. Green's Steakhouse inside. It was also home to Olympic Management and SunPark International, which became among the nation's largest off-site airport parking companies.
In the early 2000s, Snyder was part of the group which developed the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort.
Snyder shifted control of his business interests to his son, Paul Snyder III.